beautiful, but quite heart-wrenching...

I'm beginning this post at about 5:30pm Kapsowar time, with rain steaming down that so rudely interrupted our basketball game. Actually it was pretty neat seeing these rain clouds roll in over the valley, engulfing the surrounding hills as they approached us. I was on the work site at the time, continuing to work on the electrical outlets. The wind has calmed down now, and it's pretty serene sitting here looking out the window - to me it's beautiful and to others in the area it's great for the crops, but it does make things really messy around here for those that live in the little "rocket" huts on the hills or in town.

Sunday ended up being a pretty impactful day for us. As I mentioned in the last post, we visited Mama Brian's house in town to have lunch after the church service. She makes fantastic "chapati", which are like tortilla shells but with much more character - I'll definitely be taking advantage of that recipe later on this week! The meal we had with her was really good, and it was interesting to be huddled into 2/3 of her house with the 5 of us (Christina, Crystal, Jackie, myself, and Mama Brian). What a contrast to the 3-bedroom house with the large, flower-filled backyard that Jackie and I share... That lunch added more credence to us feeling awkward about being isolated from the town. I mentioned this to my class and to our parents, but the fact that all of the missionaries, white doctors, and a number of the hospital employees are in this fenced-in compound kind of separated from the rest of the town by the hospital serves to underline the inequalities that are present here. It does make sense from a permanent-missionary perspective in terms of getting that separation, that release I guess, but from a short-termer's perspective it feels a little bit like we're being set apart. It seems that puts us behind the 8-ball in terms of building relationships with people in the community.

After lunch we travelled to a place called "Kapchisawes" (I think) Children's Home, which is the orphanage run by African Inland Church (the church in Kapsowar started by the organization we came to Kenya with). This was a pretty incredible place - the setting of it was just UNREAL. It was on a large ridge with a valley that dropped off on three sides, and then climbed back up to form huge hills. The expanse of it was jaw-dropping. The orphanage supports around 35 children - most of them elementary school-age, some of them in high school. The conditions for these kids was quite depressing. David and Rebeccah (the patron and matron of the place) are vibrant, loving people who do a lot for these kids with what they have, the problem is that they just do not have a lot. The kids are sleeping 2, 3, sometimes 4 to a single "bed" (I use that term loosely, it's basically a worn foam pad on a frame), the kitchen is a closed-in building with a fire-pit, and I could go on. The place does care for these kids, though, and has them working in the jamba (garden), tending to the cows that they own, and doing their schoolwork regularly. We were able to give them modest gifts of the soccer jersesy that were donated by Clinton Minor Soccer Association, a bunch of skipping ropes from SCCS, some soccer balls and a pump and some other trinkets, but I think we're also going to try to purchase a number of textbooks that they need for the kids' schooling. I do know that Sunday won't have been my last visit there, although it is a bit of a hike (almost an hour) to get there.

What we found really refreshing about this place was that the two adults in charge (who volunteer themselves full-time, by the way) were not pushy in trying to guilt us into giving things to them. They were very gracious hosts, gave us an excellent tour, had tea with us and shared their vision for the place, their plan to make it self-sustaining through their animals and their "jamba". David and Rebeccah offered to let us share our gifts with the kids and create a "photo op" of it, but were clearly more comfortable when we turned this offer down and instead gave the gifts to them to distribute in their own way to the kids. It was an experience we won't soon forget, and one that left us feeling really good about how God really has provided these kids with a family even though they are lacking a lot of what we consider essential for living. Oh ya, then we played soccer with them for about an hour and a half on their uphill pitch while dodging the "cow pies". It was the wazungu and the girls vs. all the boys. Man, the elevation sure kills your endurance over here!

The first couple of days of this week have been a bit less interesting - I went into Eldoret town with Mama Brian and Dave (the contractor in charge of the hospital building that's being put up) to pick up a few things including basketballs for the high school boys that hang around here in the evening. We also bought ice cream, which was a real treat these days, and we saw two different kinds of monkeys and a camel (not native to the area, but used to give tourists like us a ride) on the drive there. Oh, and because we went through Iten so early in the morning, almost ALL of the elite Kenyan runners were out in full force, training! We probably saw more than 100 of them all decked out in spandex gear and Kenya track jackets. I wanted so badly to stop the car and try to run with them, but resisted the urge...

Jackie started with Dr. Drew (a surgical resident from Portland, Oregon/Sacramento, Calif) today and will be with him for the next week or so. He mostly does emergency surgeries like the one Jackie was called in to assist with over the weekend - the description for this one was "poison arrow to thigh" - no joke... I don't think there ended up being any poison, but there definitely was the removal of an arrow... She's still learning a ton about medicine, but also about patience in terms of the varying levels of training she is encountering in the rest of the medical staff at the hospital.

I'm including a picture of us with all the kids that were present at the children's home on Sunday, as well as another picture of the area with part of a FULL, gorgeous rainbow we saw while walking back to town. We wish you all the best back home and can't thank you enough for your prayers and support.

Much love,

Kevin and Jackie