The director of UMOJA loving on the kids. It was a beautiful picture of a fathers love, not for his orphans, but for his children. He loved them with his whole being.

That little smile I can’t

get out of my head. Her tiny little teeth glowed against her dark skin. Her eyes penetrated my soul. Before I even

had time to reach my arms out to her she had hers in the air. She just wanted to be loved

and touched. She was not one of the orphans, but was a

neighboring child that played at the orphan home all hours of the day. Her clothes were more worn than the orphans, and her odor was much stronger. None of that mattered. The feeling of that little hand grabbing and clinging to mine was all that I could think about. I picked her up and immediately her arms went around my neck. She loved to stare into my eyes. I stared right back, smiled, and tickled her malnourished belly. Her feet were so small and rough from never owning a pair of shoes. I loved those little feet. I grabbed each toe and played little piggy. It was a game that she was familiar with, because by the time I got to the smallest little toe she was bracing herself knowing what was to come next. She giggled and her whole buddy crumbled against mine.

This past week Reika and I spent most of our time at UMOJA, another orphan home. The one thing that I really loved about this home was all of the small children. Most of the older children were at school, but there were about six 4-5 year olds and six 6- 7 year olds. The children were so precious and easy to love. We split up our time between playing with the children and helping the director of the orphanage get the home registered. The love that the director has for the children in his home was so evident. Whenever a child came into the office in tears he would stop whatever he was doing to mend to the children. He always spoke to them in a soft, tender filled voice. He would put his hands on them, kiss them, and by the time they were walking out of the office they were always laughing. He would go outside with them and throw them into the air. The children would line up in a perfect line, and right before they were to be thrown into the air their faces looked as if they could not hold the excitement in any longer. The children would run to him when he would return from lunch. He always had at least two little hands clinging to his. It was such a beautiful picture of our Father’s love for us. Even though we were orphans God does not see us that way anymore. He longs to be

holding air hand. He doesn’t want us to fear when he throws us up in the air, because he has always promised to catch us. All he asks of us is to love him, and trust him. Why is that so hard for so many of us to do…myself included?

We also worked in the hospital a little. Some people have asked me if I have grown numb to all the difficult cases that I am dealing with in the hospital. The answer to this question is NO. I have become stronger, but not numb. I’m sure it’s possible, but I don’t know how anyone could become numb to the cases that Reika and I see in the hospital. On Friday I had another case that broke my heart. It was a five year-old baby girl in the pediatrics ward. Chuck Bemm gave us a brief history before we spoke to the mother, “The client is a five-year old girl who was brought in for severe malnutrition. The mother is HIV+ and did not know that her daughter was also HIV+ until she brought her into the hospital a few days ago. The mother has five boys and one girl. This little girl is her prized possession, and after speaking with her one can tell that she adores her. See if you can talk to them and figure out a little more about their story and situation.” The first thing that I noticed about the mother was how beautiful her face was. The second thing I noticed was the concern in her eyes. We asked her about her home situation and how her daughter was eating. The mother informed us she had no food, and she noticed her daughter was getting very small but had no money to bring her to the hospital. “How much does she weigh?” I asked. “She weigh’s 10 pounds.” I was sitting on the end of the mother’s bed and rested my hand on the mother’s legs in means of providing some comfort. She then pulled back the covers that were hiding the frail little body. After touching her little hand the mother pulled up her baby’s shirt, took my hand and asked me to feel her stomach. I knew her situation was not looking very positive when I saw every rib sticking out, and her skin was so thin that I could actually see her organs. The mother kept saying, “Please just feel how hard her stomach is. What does that mean? Is she going to be okay?” Not really knowing what to say I informed her that the doctors were going to try their best to help her get well again. After trying to encourage her, without giving her false hope, I asked to pray for her. Without any hesitation she said, “yes, please do.” As I rested my hands on her baby the mother rested her hands on mine. Even though she could not understand the exact words of my prayer I knew that she could understand exactly what I was saying. I now pray to God and ask you to pray that her baby is healed.

The beautiful coast of kenya

“Are you sure that this is the Bemm’s door?” -Me

“Yes, just knock on it…just do it.” -Reika

“But it sounds like young british guys.” -Me

“It has to be their door…just knock”. -Reika

“knock, knock, knock.”

As I slowly watched the door opened I quickly realized that this was def. not the Bemm’s door. We were greeted by two very happy British guy’s. I paused for a second, tried to look inside, looked back at Reika, and then looked back inside. I then asked, “Ummm…are the Bemms here.” They looked at each other and then looked back at me. “Nope. Sorry. You wanna come in for a drink?” “Reika and I both politely refused and told them we were supposed to be on babysitting duty, but had gotten a little lost. They laughed, looked at us as if we were crazy, pointed us in the right direction to room D4, and then chased us out the door begging us, “please, please, please don’t go.” Our supervisor and the rest of the adults got a HUGE kick out of this story, especially considering the fact that they were probably the only two other people staying at the resort that just happened to be around our age…and of course it was their door that we knocked on.

This past week Reika and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the coast with all of the long-term WGM families. Amy asked us if we would like to go and help with the children’s program and organize family game night as well. There’s no way we were going to say no to going to the beach and staying in an all-inclusive resort.

Our day started at 9:30 with all of the children. Reika was put with the ten 3-5 year olds, and I had six of the 6-10 year olds. Luckily we did not have to organize the daily schedule because three women from the states flew over just to help with the children’s program. They had everything perfectly planned out. It was nice to be able to assist and not plan. They had brought great crafts, snack, games, and stories with them. The theme for the week was Sonquest rain forest. We made butterflies, sock monkeys, frog and monkey tic tac toe pads, rain sticks, and more. They were so creative and fun. The children really seemed to enjoy them as well. I forgot how funny 10 year old boys can be. I felt like I was laughing the entire time while working with them.

After lunch Reika and I were given free time until dinner. This time consisted of a whole lot of laying and walking on the beach with our new friend’s Stephen and Todd. They are also VIA's/WGM working at Tenwek. We have seen them a lot around the compound, but never really had the chance to get to know them. Immediately after lunch we went straight to the beach where we gathered a few chairs in the sun for Reika and I, and a few chairs in the shade for Stephen and Todd. None of us could get over how great the constant breeze was. The trade winds were amazing. We were also given free access to the kayaks, paddle boats, and wind surfing. The ocean was filled with eels, crabs, and different kinds of fish. There were even camels walking up and down the beach. Lets just say we never got bored. Reika and I are now sporting our amazingly intense one-piece tan lines. I don’t believe I have had such an intense one-piece tan line since I was about 10 years old. It’s pretty awesome.

Around 6 we would head up to our ocean front room where we would get ready for dinner. All our meals were all you can eat buffets. We were so full all the time. After dinner Reika and I split up and helped babysit some of the different families so that the parents could enjoy each other. One of the night we also planned the family game night. This was not hard considering I grew up going to a family camp every summer and had a whole list full of games to play. The first game we played was to have everyone line up from youngest to oldest without talking. This was very funny to watch. Our second game was the human knot. We split everyone up into groups of about fifteen people and had them all cross and connect arms. Once this was accomplished they had to figure out how to get back into a circle without letting go hands. I just about died of laughter watching my supervisor and her husband try to figure out how to figure out the puzzle. The last game we played was we had them all stay in these same groups and I gave them three completely random words. Each group had to come up with a skit in only 5min. having to do something with the three words. Everyone seemed to get a huge kick out of this game. It was a huge success and Reika and I really enjoyed planning it.

Around 10 every night we would go by the pool to watch the evening show. These shows consisted of belly/tribal dancers, Kenyan acrobats, a musical, and there was even a show that had something to do with guys/midgets dressed in leotards, and wigs (I did stay long for that show…I’m still trying to figure out what the heck was going on). After the show Reika, Stephen, and I went to the beach. We would pull the long chairs down to the ocean and watch the billions of stars. We would pick out the northern cross (which you can only see from the equator), little and big dipper, and more. It was beautiful. The shooting stars never seemed to stop. We probably stayed there for a few hours. We asked each other life questions, shared our fears, our goals, and favorite things in life.

village living

The girls loved to braid our hair

Our mother for the week. We sat in the kitchen with her every morning and evening as she taught us how to make Kenyan food.

little karen

cleaning the beans for dinner

“I kind of feel like we are living a scene from braveheart.” Reika said as we were standing in the middle of a bunch of huts with our hair braided in every which direction (by the orphaned girls), watching a huge fight break out between two women. The women were fighting over their mutual husband. One of the women had just found out that her husband had decided to get a second wife, and they second wife just happened to be the neighbor. Needless to say these women did not get along. Reika and I both had a good laugh when I reminded her that we were def. in Africa and that nothing about the situation that we were witnessing was in anyway normal.

This week we spent our time with in the Kinduwa orphan home. The Director of the Kinduwa orphanage and his family showed us an unlimited amount of hospitality. They gave us their beds to sleep in at night, feed us more food than I could handle, boiled water for us to bathe in, and cleaned our muddy shoes every night. I was even tucked into bed by the director’s 15 year-old niece. She made sure that all the covers were tucked under every inch of my body. It was so sweet.

We spent Easter Sunday with the orphans and the director’s family. It was a beautiful day full of children singing and dancing and the simple preaching in a simple little wooden church. It was so sweet. We went to the children’s service first where all the children danced and sang together. They not only had beautiful voices, but they all know how to dance. I think that they were born with the rhythm in their bones. After eating lunch with the family Reika and I took our usual nap, we found ourselves taking naps after every meal because our stomachs hurt so bad from eating so much food. We tried so hard to finish our plates, but never even seemed to finish half. They amount of food that an average Kenyan eats is more than all my brothers can eat together. I am still trying to figure out how they stay so thin.

After waking up from the nap I found myself feeling rather sick. That feeling increased as the day went on and by nighttime I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to eat dinner. After eating a few bites of dinner I went quickly to bed. I kept telling Reika, “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO……especially if I get sick?” Reika was so sweet. She told me to wake her up if I felt sick so that she could go outside with me. It would not have been so bad if the “outhouse” was not a good few yards down the hill, and it was just a hole in the ground with a wall around it. Not an ideal bathroom for getting sick. I said a long prayer before going to bed that night and then took one of my beloved, lifesaving ambien. Thank the Lord, I slept through the whole night and our driver was returning that next morning to take us back to Tenwek.

Our experience in this village was much more stretching, but it was so good. I was talking to a missionary at Tenwek, and I was saying that experiences like these are always more fun once they are over haha.

safari time

Nothing beats driving across open fields filled with animals into the sunrise. Sitting in an open jeep feeling the wind rush through my hair, there was no place that I could think of that I would have rather have been. This week Reika and I got to go on an amazing safari. We were filled with excitement. When we got to the safari club the first thing we were told was “Make sure you zip your tent all the way because we have naughty monkey’s hanging around this area.” Reika and I both looked at each other and burst out laughing upon hearing this. When we arrived we were first taken to our tents to settle all of our things. We had heard stories of how nice these tents were from other people, but no one even came close to describing what they were actually like. We walked into our tent to see two huge queen beds with all down feather bedding, a full length mirror (which was our first to have while being here), our first blow dryer, a wonderful bathroom made out of marble sinks, and the nicest shower head that made it feel like I was bathing under a waterfall. It was the most luxurious tent I have ever stayed in. We went to sleep at night listening to the sound of the hippos and crocs splashing in the river just below and all the monkeys playing about.

We went on our safari with two other families that had been visiting Tenwek. We greatly enjoyed their company and have missed them since being back. They both had sons one in his younger 20’s, the other in his older 20’s... Both families really took us in as their own children. We had many good laughs and conversations together. It was a nice breath of fresh air to get to spend that time with them. Seeing as how they all had grown children, they reminded me a lot of my own parents. Especially, the fact that one of the fathers, Reed, LOVED to play any type of game. I never saw him without a deck or cards or game board in his hands. We are going to miss our weekly game nights and dessert with them.

We were woken up at 6am every morning with a personal wake-up call, coffee, and biscuits brought right to our tent. By 6:30 we were on our first game drive. It was an amazing feeling to be driving into the sun, in an open jeep, surrounded by animals. We came just feet away from lions, cheetahs, elephants, baboons. We got to get out and actually walk around the zebras, rhinos, hyenas, elks, gazelles, birds, and my favorite the giraffes. I have never seen anything like it. I’m still having a hard time believing that I got to go. I kept thinking about how much God must love me to have made something so beautiful just so that we could enjoy it. It was an amazing depiction of his creativity and heart. Watching the earth come alive in the morning was an amazing experience.

We had a wonderful driver, Ashford, who was very well informed of the animals. My favorite story that he told was about the tick ticks. He said, “You know, tick ticks actually mate for life, and when one dies the other soon follows from a broken heart or it will commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.” We might be gullible but, Reika and I believed his little story, and I refuse to look it up on the Internet, because I don’t want to find out he was just pulling our leg. In the afternoons we ate a wonderful lunch, laid by the pool, watched the hippos and crocs below, and relaxed.

After lunch we would go on our evening game drives where we would search for animals until the sun went down. It was such an amazing sight to see. We actually got to witness a cheetah racing across the valley to feast on its prey. We were told that the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. It can run up to 75miles per hour. If one comes across a cheetah in the wild we were told to play dead… YAHH right! At nighttime we would return for dinner and an evening show that was performed by a group of the local Massai warriors. Both Reika and I got pulled up to dance with them. I feel like we are target prey for stuff like that being two young, single girls. The next day we actually had the chance to go visit their village, and they showed us their huts, and way of life. One of the Massai warriors seemed to be particular fond of me. He kept asking, “You remember me from last night?” “I said, “Ohhh you were one of the dancer’s. Sooo I guess you remember me?” He said, “Of course I remember you.” It was at this time that I started searching very quickly for Reika, only to see her watching from afar laughing her head off. I can’t believe she didn’t even try to save me from that situation. He always seemed to be just two inches away from me the rest of the time we were there. This was a much needed break from our time in the villages. We both feel reenergized after a once and a lifetime experience.