Emily has something to say...

Yesterday was maybe the most meaningful day of jour journey so far, for me at least. The youth (no adults) split into groups of two and were each placed with a social worker. The groups separated and went to various poverty-stricken areas of Eldoret. Erik (a boy not from the church but who is here with his dad for five weeks) and I went with our social worker Katherine to Munyaka, a small village that was the poorest of the places visited by us. There, we went to the homes of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), children who are particularly at risk of starvation, lack of schooling and health problems.

Riding in the vans to our locations, every single youth looked absolutely terrified. It was a new experience for all of us to have people shouting and whistling at our vans, and to come up to the windows and shake our hands and say hello and shout “Muzungu!” (Swahili for “white person”). Then, to have to get out of the van in small groups and enter the chaos was maybe the most intimidating thing I have ever done.

Katherine, Erik’s and my social worker, was such a loving and caring person! As we walked through Munyaka, she took great pains to stop and say hello to people on the street, and to introduce us. Many had not spoken to white people before, and encouraged us to come back and visit their homes if we had time. The most significant part of my trip, however, was meeting Shosho. “Shosho” is Swahili for “grandmother,” and that fit her perfectly. The moment she saw us, this seventy-year-old woman came over to grasp my hand and insisted that I was now her grandchild. Shosho took care of four orphans in her one room mud hut, the oldest child being 17 and the youngest being 2. She had no job, and scrounged every day to find food for her family. Hearing Shosho’s story really brought the poverty in Kenya to life for me. It is truly a different experience shaking the hands of people afflicted by this situation

Everyone here runs on ‘Kenyan time,” which means things move slower here. Time is not really a big priority, which is one of my favorite things about this place! Our van was 20 minutes late to pick us up. Later on, I was glad for this, because it gave us an opportunity to visit with the children coming home from school. They were so excited to talk to us and show off the English they were learning! We were surrounded by children saying “How are you? How are you?” They would burst into giggles whenever we tried to speak Swahili, especially when I showed that I could count to ten!

In spite of the good times we are having here, it is difficult to see all the poverty that is simply accepted. We KNOW how good life could be here, but things are simply not changing fast enough. This trip is inspiring me to make my voice heard about the poverty when I get home.