Thursday Travels

Today is Monday on the trip, and we are finally heading to the village!  Our hotel is at Lake Naivasha, which is where the movie "Out of Africa" was filmed.  The village is about 1-1-1/2 hours away.  There is a paved road for a portion of the trip and then it becomes dirt roads which are very bumpy!

We drove straight to the school in Kiria.  The children were all gathered in the courtyard, along with many parents, the teachers, and the village leaders.  The children started out with a couple of fun songs.  It was so neat to look through the faces and recognize children from the previous trip.

Next, some of the women came out and sang for us.  Then they started dancing and each grabbed one of us to join in.  I will say, they got a kick out of our dancing!  We all laughed and enjoyed the fellowship.

Mercy is the village coordinator for 410 Bridge, the organization that we partner with.  She welcomed us and had us introduce ourselves, and then had many members of the community do the same.

Next was the highlight of the trip for Auntie and me...getting to meet and spend time with our sponsor girls!!

Here I am with them...We met Evelyne (the tallest one) last year, but she wasn't feeling well, so our visit was very short.  I was so pleased that she felt well this time and remembered us from before.

We brought letters for them and Evelyne couldn't wait to open hers!  The little girls don't speak a lot of English yet, but their teachers told us they brought them to class that afternoon to have them read!

Yes, we finally got some smiles from them!  This is my new girl Eunice.  She is 7 and in the second grade.  She loved coloring but was quite shy.  I can only imagine though what it must be like to meet these strangers!

This is Aunties girl Margaret.  She is also 7 but in the third grade.  

This is Evelyne.  She is now in high school which is a boarding school.  Our team leader pointed out her school to us on the drive into the village.  I would say it is 6-10 miles away.

Here is a photo of me and my girls.  I am so proud of them and cannot wait to see what God has in store for them!

We were able to spend several hours with the girls.  We colored, tried to ask questions...thankfully, Evelyne was there to translate for us!  We played some hand clapping games and just enjoyed each others company.  

Next week will be day two in the village.  Our work finally begins!