Merry Christmas and Thank You from the kids of Pistis Academy!

Happy Holiday Greetings to All!

The past couple of weeks have been so amazing and so full of hard work coupled with miracles. We come home each day absolutely exhausted, dusty, sweaty, hungry, and filled with so much love from the children and people we have met here. Yes, the needs are many, and yes, we feel overwhelmed at the task at hand and we know that with God, all things are possible. We have been doing a lot of work cleaning up the facility to get it ready for the new term,which begins Jan. 9. We have washed windows, swept floors, and washed walls. We also paid to have some renovation work done on the cement floors that had been damaged. The school building is now looking "very smart", as they say here.

The orphan children of Pistis Academy are having a Christmas like no other, thanks to the incredible outpouring of love and concern for these kids, most of whom were living on the streets until 3 years ago. Volunteers from far and wide have come to Pistis, bringing hope, new ideas, and generous donations. Community members are opening their hearts to the needs of these children.

The girls had their hair done by professional stylists, thanks to the generosity and heart of a new friend of ours here in Nakuru. Thanks to our friends at home, the children will all have new shoes, which we will be distributing tonight, Christmas Eve. Clothes and food have also been donated, along with other goods and services from the community. The parents of one of the volunteers have sent money for a special Christmas dinner, which will also take place tonight. Yesterday, a news crew from the local TV station came and filmed and interviewed. Bosco was among those who spoke. We had spent the morning making decorations for a Christmas tree and the chapel. The kids had fun making paper chains and other colorful decorations.

We are taking some time off next week. We will travel to Nairobi on Monday and then Thursday we will return to visit the Njagaa Children's Home, which we visited about a month ago. The kids there were so warm and welcoming -- we can't wait to see them again! We will be there for a couple of days.

The following week will be our last full week in Nakuru. It is already getting full with invitations for lunches and dinners with our new found friends here. It is hard to believe that our time here is nearing an end, especially when there is still so much to do. We will certainly be back and hopefully bring some of you with us next time!!

Bosco cleaning the classroom walls with helper, David.

With school now closed we have begun to tackle some of the bigger projects at the school. We have been working on getting the facility into shape for the new term, which begins in January.
So far we have created a path and steps from the playground to the first grade classroom, in an effort to help cut down on the dust and dirt getting tracked in by the kids. We have also cleared the drainage ditch that catches the rain run-off from the roof. It had filled over the years with mud and other debris. We are still trying to come up with a solution to keep the dirt from washing into it. In the course of removing the dirt we discovered a step that had been completely buried. It felt like an archeogical dig! The kids have been very helpful. There are always several who are willing to pitch in and give a hand. This week we have begun to clean the classroom walls and floors. It is difficult or impossible to clean some, as some of the walls are just plaster and have not been painted. Some of the classrooms have no glass in the windows, so dust is constantly blowing in there. We have talked with the contractor who has done most of the work on the building. We want him to repair some of the concrete work. Unfortunately, the school needed to be used before all of the cement was completely dry when it was first constructed, so there are big holes in the floors of the hallway and in a few classrooms and the step edges have broken off or chipped. So it looks like an old building, even though it has only been used for a few years. He will begin the work next Monday so there is plenty of time for it to dry this time! When we return home, we plan to help raise funds so they can complete the building. Right now the second floor is usable, but needs concrete finishing work and glass installed in the classroom windows. The third floor is not useable at all. It has walls and a roof and that's about it. The stairwell is also unfinished, but is used, nonetheless.
There has been no rain here now for many weeks. I would not be surprised if it doesn't rain again before we leave in January. The name of the town we are in is Nakuru, which means "dust" in the Maasai language. We are beginning to understand now why it was named that. Most of the streets here are unpaved and have also turned to dust measuring inches thick. Since we mostly walk to get around, we always dread seeing a car coming down the road. There are lots of mini dust tornados, too. We are grateful to have a nice hot shower to go home to at the end of the day and hot tea waiting for us, too!
Love and miss you all!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has responded so generously to our appeal for donations to buy new school shoes for the kids at the orphanage. (see below, for more info) We are so grateful and we know the kids are going to be so excited and happy!

Monica with girls of Njaaga Children's Home in Kirengero, Kenya

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgivng. We were really missing our families!! We wanted to do something to celebrate while we were here, so we decided to treat the kids at the orphanage to something that many of them had never even tasted -- WATERMELON!! We went to the fruit market, bought 8 large melons, hired a "Tuk-Tuk" (small 3- wheeled vehicle) to bring them to the orphanage, and got busy in the kitchen cutting up watermelon slices. We figured we must have cut about 400 slices!! The kids went crazy for it! We caused a near riot - with everyone scrambling to be next in line. With so much melon, most had seconds and thirds. They really enjoyed it and were thankful. We enjoyed seeing the smiles on their faces. The kids usually get the same thing everyday -- ugali and sukumawiki (maize meal and kale) - so you can imagine what a treat this was for them!

We recently took a trip to visit another orphanage that we had learned about. It is in a rather remote area about 45 minutes from here. The orphanage is supported by a man who's in the safari business. The proceeds from his business go towards supporting about 80 children living there. We had a wonderful time. The children sang and danced for us and we spent time talking and playing and dancing with them. We also brought some cookies to share. There are mostly girls living there. They seemed very happy and were very welcoming and friendly to us. We stayed the night at the orphange and found ourselves feeling really COLD for the first time in Kenya. The elevation of this place makes the nights especially cold. It was kind of nice for a change. The orphanage is in an old "white settler's" house and is set in a beautiful and peaceful location overlooking a deep valley. There were also a couple of French tourists who stayed there when we were there. Believe it or not, the only way we could communicate with them was because I could speak Spanish! They spoke no English, but were from an area near Spain and had more knowledge of Spanish!! I never thought I would be speaking Spanish in Kenya! We plan to go back to stay for a few days at this orphanage later in December and plan some games and activities.
On this same trip we continued on up the road to visit Thompson Falls, crossing the equator on the way! The waterfall is a beautiful cascade into the lush ravine below. There is also a lovely lodge that was built beside the falls, where we enjoyed a relaxing lunch. Unlike most roads in Kenya, the road to the falls was great! Except for a few potholes, it was smooth sailing. Most travel in Kenya is done via "matatu", a Toyota van outfitted to cram in 14 seated passengers. So a smooth road is really appreciated.
Final exams are over and school is now closed until Jan. 9. That means our days of teaching have come to an end. We will, however, continue to go to the orphanage and work on some projects. We have started a vegetable garden and have so far planted carrots, zucchini, beets and spinach. There are some other things we want to do to help improve the facility. We will also continue to have activities for the kids. The last couple of weeks, we started showing videos to the kids. They have really enjoyed them. Many thanks to those of you who donated videos! They will be left here for the kids to continue to enjoy in the future.
We attended an African wedding this past weekend. The son of the director of the orphange got married at the chapel located on the grounds of the orphanage. It was an all day affair, which started 3 hours late - fairly typical around here, where life is taken "pole-pole" or slowly so that more blessings can be received. It was very nice and the bridal party was "dressed to the nines". The only thing that we had a hard time with was the volume of the music. They use heavy amplification in a fairly small space and everyone singing uses a microphone into which they sing their loudest. They had a great meal, which included rice pilau and chicken (kuku) and Bosco's favorite - chapatis! There was an American Pastor and his wife visiting also. He spoke during the service and also led an all day retreat the previous day, which we also attended. He and his wife have been in Kenya since January and have been coming for the past 4 years to share their ministry.
We had a great meeting today with 3 local men, 2 of whom work at the school, the other a recent business school graduate. They asked for our input and cooperation in forming a new non-profit organization here called "Afrikayote" (which means "all of Africa"). The main focus of the organization will be to facilitate volunteers to come to Africa to work with various projects, with an emphasis on keeping the cost at a minimum to the volunteer. Projects will fall into 4 categories - Education, Health Services, Environment and Conservation, and Socio-Cultural Development. There will also be an element of local community involvement, enlisting local adults and youth to participate. We came up with a lot of great ideas and we are very excited to be involved in getting this off the ground and being the key contacts in the US when we return.
I want to send out a special "hello" to the kids at Unity Temple! The kids here can't wait to receive your pen pal letters!!