Kenya: Putting on the Show + Blessings

There were so many memorable moments this week.  From Gloria deciding H was the greatest person alive to Samuel telling Rachel what he thought of our family due to AJ, to kids blossoming from shy teenagers to confident participants.  We have heard heartbreaking stories from a child's father dying unexpectedly in December to another girl's friend having to deal with the death of her little brother last week and one girl pulling away when asked about a cut on her face.  But we also heard of the hopes and dreams of this young Kenyan generation...and witnessed their compassion and love, especially in the way they just fell in love with our little AJ.

AJ and his buddy John (younger brother of Margaret who is one of our favorites from the week....she is the one in the video below who is singing to AJ and doing his 'cut the pickle' exercise)

That last picture was taken after these kids had been teaching AJ Swahili, doing AJ's 'cut the pickle' exercise with him, and singing with him.  I took video of them interacting with him and condensed it down to 2 min 30 seconds.  My favorite part is when he is singing "Oh the Lord is Good To Me" during the last minute of the clip...

The girls were great leaders this week and the kids worked REALLY hard on their dances and skits...

Dance choreographer extraordinaire!  

Story of Rachel Skit

Chains Skit

Trust Fall Skit - Joshua and Loreen

Hand Clapping Skit

Rachel walked in to rehearsal for her 'Flying Lessons' skit to find this on the board....

Flying Lessons Cast + AJ

The Stool Skit

And when we weren't practicing, we were goofing around with the kids, forming relationships, and generally having a good time.

Lillian, the drama teacher out at Joska

S doing an impromptu dance with the kids

Gloria and H....we love this girl and the special bond she has with H!  

Fascination with braiding S's hair...

Speaking of hair, I just love this series of pictures with AJ touching different people's hair...

And the sequence ends with AJ getting a hug from another one of our favorite kids, Margaret (whose little brother is John from above and hidden a bit in the picture below).  

Finally, it was PERFORMANCE DAY at Pangani (Saturday April 28).  Parents, siblings, friends, and MOHI staff were invited to the Pangani Center to watch the kids perform all they had learned during the week.  This is the Pangani Center, headquarters of Missions of Hope as well as an elementary school for Area 1 kids.  

The building is in a 'V' shape with the part of the 'V' shown below housing the MOHI staff (the full staff is 500 people, though most are teachers out in the field) + library, conference room, dentist office, pharmacy, computer lab, sewing class area, and jewelry class area.  The other part of the 'V' is the same sized building for the elementary school (over 500 kids).  

Attached to the RIGHT of this building is a covered area that serves as a bit of a conference center as well as a church on Sunday morning.  That is where we had the show! 

The kids did SUCH a GREAT job!!!  We were super proud of them.  Here are a few videos from the show starting with the 'Trust Fall' skit (2:17).  Click here if embedded video doesn't work

There have been so many times this trip where AJ has done something where I thought "I wish I had a video recording when he did that!"  And I finally got one of those moments on tape during the show.  This video was taken during one of the dance numbers that V choreographed.  AJ is watching and then decides it is time to dance (54 seconds).  Click here if embedded video doesn't work

Near the end of performance, Mary Kamau (founder of MOHI) said some very kind words about our family and encouraged the students from Joska to take what they have learned this week and use it to bless others....  (click here if embedded video doesn't work)

After the show, Mary talked with Rachel and me about the impact this kind of week has on these kids.  She said we really have no idea....that they will remember this week for the rest of their lives.  She also spoke about what we are doing next week with all these skits and dances.  They are all a part of a Vacation Bible School for the elementary school kids in Area 2 of the Methare Valley.

She said that often times churches come to Kenya wanting to do some kind of 'works' (ie building something) but in her opinion one of the MOST valuable things that churches do is coming and putting on a Vacation Bible School.  Why?  Because they DON'T do VBS in Kenya!   It is something completely new to the kids and to the staff....and what happens is that the kinds of things that are done are then repeated in other areas of the Methare Valley.  In addition, the teachers learn and apply these things to their own churches. So Mary highly values teams that come and do VBS.  In addition, she mentioned how relationships form during VBS that simply would not happen if teams were building something etc.  

She also said that all the skits and dances we taught this week will not only be used during our VBS this week but will be used to teach others in all the schools under the MOHI umbrella.  Wallace Kamau said that skits like the trust fall skit are not only great teaching tools for the Christian principles but also great teaching tools for speaking English.  

It was really wonderful hearing these comments from the two co-founders of MOHI!  

The Trust Fall Skit and the 'Everything' Skit (huge video file that I couldn't upload at this time) were performed this morning at the Kosovo Church where we attended services last weekend and this weekend.  The kids were GREAT!  

The Everything Skit is very powerful and as I looked around the church there were many, many tears.  I've seen this skit probably 50 times but this morning while watching the reaction of the Kenyans I had a very powerful Christ centered experience.  Huge blessing....

In fact, here is where we got the 'Everything' Skit for anyone who has not seen it before.  Click here if embedded video doesn't work

The kids, staff, and us after the performance.  What a GREAT week!

We are heading out soon to the Java House for Sunday night dinner.  Tomorrow we begin working with the little kids in Area 2 with our VBS themed 'Bring the Light'  

Til then, God Bless

Other favorite pictures and stories from the past four days....

We said goodbye to our new friend Keith Ham.  He told us of how he came to Christ, met his wife, and ultimately ended up in Kenya.  Keith is blessed with a truly great sense of humor.  Just before he left, and old friend of his showed up at the house who he must have served with in northern Kenya as they did the kind of greeting that is done in the tribal area (much jumping up and down and bobbing of head).  It was a neat thing to watch!

In the picture below, Rachel pointed to the wall and said "Look!  There is a lizard!!!!"   S looked over to the corner of the room and Rachel took a huge bite of her dinner.  I love the second picture and the laughs that ensued....

Rachel and staff member Annisiah.  I am convinced Rachel wanted this picture so that she would have ONE picture in her life where she felt tall.... ;)

AJ and his posse....

Driving away from the Pangani Center after the performance H said "OH!  A pink house!!!" and V deadpanned....'with a dead cow hanging in the window'   LOL  Might be one of those things where you had to be there for it to be funny.

And, what would blog post be without at least one picture of the PhotoBomber....