June 30 - We had french toast this morning. And while we covered it with butter and jam, we were given the honor of naming two puppies that were new to Jack and Evelyn's home. We settled on "WaWa" and "Abby". "WaWa" is the best gas-station-sandwhich-shop-milkshake-parlor-cofee-shop-restaurant in the Pennsylvania and Washington area. We have a lot of passion on our team for WaWa, and it somehow seemed an appropriate name for a Kenyan puppy. Abby is not the name of anyone you will see written on our team roster, but it is someone we know is with us and who we all carry around. We felt that it was also the finest of names.
We started the day at Salem School and Medical Clinic where we visited with orphans and sorted medical supplies. The motto at Salem is "Knowledge is Light" and the chidren are beautiful and incredibly bright. They are much more fluent in U.S. state cpaitals than anyone on our team. In the late morning, we split into two teams and traveled to the Obunga slum. Obunga is the largest slum in Kisumu. The word "slum" conjures a lot of images and they are all present at Obunga. It was something, that for us, Hollywood movies had not captured and our minds had not imagined. It is a desparate place were raw sewage runs like small creeks along the dirt roads. Homes of mud brick and tin lean toward one another and half-naked children play in front of small storefronts. We walked into this place with suitcases filled with medical supplies to visit the homes of some of the sick and to do what we could do. Sharayah flowed easily into the community helping with the cooking at one home. Grace held the children being treated, sometimes very tightly, and handed Justine medical supplies using a color-coded-non-medical-terminology method that somehow seemed to work. Rachael fashioned an orthpedic out of a cornhusk and Dr. Jeff waded through the crowds to the homes of the sick treating people along the way. It was hard. It was hot. It was overwhelming. So much need. So many people. So few resources. It is fair to say that we all became emotional in Obunga. And it is also fair to say that later that evening, when we prayed and talked we became even more emotional. But by the grace of God and the strength of this team that emotion found a safe outlet. In between those times, we visited the Salem Orphange and found happy children ready to play. We needed to play. So we played.
It is hard to know what to do with a day like this day. At its end though, under the protection of the Holy Spirit, we walked in love into the day to do what we could do. For now that is enough. Our prayers this day include Mary (the Director of Salem Clinic), Monique (a lady on the streets of Obunga who asked for our prayers), John (the director of Salem Orphange), Bernard (an orphan at Salem Orhanage whose smile lights the day) and Rebecca (an orphan at Salem who has captured our hearts). And so again we ask your prayers for us as well. Until tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment