As promised, we headed back to Nanyuki to meet with the boys. But, along the road we had to stop for some pictures. This kind of scene is repeated time and time again across the countryside, right along the road. At first we kept our distance but then got closer and made some new "friends"...=)
Ladies and their kids are often seen farming along the roadside.
beautiful scenery along the road
Lucas and John
Everytime we meet someone new, John immediately gets out and starts conversation with them in their native tongue. He's amazing.
Linda began dancing with the ladies we met. And they welcomed her into their "family"...=)
lots of smiles and laughter.
We met the street boys at the Nakumartt and I made Isaac pose by the elephant at the entrance. He loved me for that.
Here we are sitting and having lunch with our boys. We were about 1 1/2 hours late and Lucas was very tense about being on time for them. But, when we pulled into the parking lot, we were able to spot them. Thank you Jesus.
George
Robert
take note of the looks on their faces. no words really.
We left Lucas with John and the 2 boys at the table while Isaac and I joined Linda and Paul to see the Spinners and Weavers just a few miles up the road. This is a group of highly trained women creating the most beautiful weavings from wool they spin and dye themselves with all natural products. Aren't they just beautiful and talented women?
This is Lucy. She gave us the tour of the "factory" Here she is explaining the cleaning of the wool.
Spinners at work
Lucy explaining the dying process. Sometimes they use flowers, leaves from Mint, or even the body of a certain bug from a certain cactus to create the dyes.
Lucy and Me
The shop
Isaac rockin' a cool scarf
When we returned we headed out to finish our shopping for the boys. We went to the local street vendors and found some great used clothing for them. We chose used because we were told they could get beat up and their clothes could get stolen if they had too much.
This was a random guy that was slightly inebriated at the market. This is something you often see. But, this guy was crazy. I had to turn my back on him and walk away.
He kind of freaked Lucas out.
Robert and Lucas before the "new" clothes.
We realized we could not find them pants or socks and underwear and shirts for under their coats at the market so we ended up at the "walmart" type store. Linda and Paul were over the top generous in buying all this for the boys.
After the new clothes, we took them to dinner. They are very quiet boys. And we are probably a little overwhelming as a group. But, they were willing to speak to John and our driver Pastor Godfrey. We had decided by this point that we were going to attempt to find them some sort of placement in a home if possible. Pastor Godfrey found some connections, made a few calls and we are now officially beginning the paperwork process to place these two boys in a facility about 1 1/2 hours from where they currently are. We were blessed to have John and Godfrey with us to translate and ask the hard questions of them about their history and ask them if they even want to live somewhere other than the street. You might think the answer would always be a resounding "yes", but that is not always the case with these kids. Both of them did say "yes". And one of them did share that he sniffs glue so that he doesn't feel angry all the time. They did seem very laid back while with us. But, as should be expected, there are some unresolved things in their history. One thing we are pretty certain of is there is nobody --no relative of any kind waiting for them or looking for them. The paperwork will also confirm that as well.
This particluar facility requires sponsers for the kids. It is a mere $60/month per child to feed them, clothe them, give them a room, and send them to school.
Interesting thing?
My oldest brother gave my sister $150 to spend on some special project while here....
hmmmm What do you think we should use it for?
God was going before us and already speaking to my brother's heart before we came.
As you can see by the following pics, smiles have begun to emmerge. And Lucas was "on" that night and drew out the smiles and a little laughter even though they don't understand a ton of English.
One humorous thing happened at the table. We got to the end of the meal, and one of the boys had barely touched his spaghetti. He said it was too spicey. I think Lucas had something to do with putting pepper on it because that's what he likes. Anyway, he ate other things, but there was a pile of food left. Linda looked at me and said, "what are ya going to say?...there are starving children in Africa? eat your food?"... it was a funny moment. I'm not sure if it is translating well here or not, but we are still laughing about it.
precious interactions between boys. Lucas has such a heart and passion for these guys. He wants them cared for. Of course he is advocating that we adopt them. But, of course that is much more complicated than he knows. What he is saying is he cannot just not care.
I think we were wearing George out a bit...
I think the hardest part of the night was dropping them off in 50 degree weather outside to go to sleep. Yes they now had shoes on their feet, a warm blanket, food in their stomachs and warm jackets. But, the reality is they are still sleeping alone on the street--at least for now. They do stay close to a bank where there is a security guard who kind of keeps an eye on them at night. That was a comfort. He told Godfrey that "they are good boys".
I wanted to pray with them before we left them, but Lucas beat me to it. Before I could get out of the car he had John and the boys all huddled in prayer without any coaching or prompting from anyone but the Holy Spirit. To God be the Glory!!
saying goodbye is hard.
'till we meet again...
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