Today started out slow. We woke up a little later than yesterday. We went down and had "Morning Glory", which is the staff's morning devotional, it strikes me every time I see the Kenyan people worship, they are so passionate. They always sing and say "Praise God! Amen!" Over and over. Their passion is Mramba, beautiful.
After Morning Glory we went upstairs and did our teams devotion. Jaylyn did it, she read from a passage in Revelations, and talked about how mighty our God is and how powerful and that we need to remember to fear Him.
I reflected on this and rested until time for breakfast. We had Mondazi, which is like a donut but without icing, and fruit. The bananas here are so amazingly good!
My stomach has been a little yucky the last few days, I think the change in food combined with the Malaria medication is making it not feel good. So I just ate fruit and had Chai (they have tea several times per day).
After Chai, I had an assignment to take pictures of all of the siblings and staff with their children. I was given a list and began working on that.
At lunch we ate with the children. It was a bean stew, with garbanzo beans, carrots, potatoes and spinach. I liked it, with a little salt:) After lunch we were all pretty tired and the children were going down for their nap, so I took a nap.
At 2 we woke up and went downstairs, it was time for chapel! Usually they have chapel every friday, but they moved it to today so that we could experience it! It was awesome! They sing and dance! Then each class, the Baby Class, KG1, KG2, KG3, STND1, all sang a song and told a memory verse for the week. They then announced the student of the week, and then our boys, Ty, Austin and Matt led the devotional. They told the story of Feeding the 5000, and did a really good job.
Once that was over we had a meeting.
After school we followed little Maria home, we were welcomed by her mother, Irene who works at the school. She told us she has 10 children and lives with another women who is her co wife. Their husband passed away in 2006. She showed us her house which was nicer than the one from yesterday, but that isn't saying much. Her and her co wife have a room and her husband has a room. Even though he died the room is kept unlived in. In Kenyan tradition the husband and wives have separate rooms, and if the husband dies the room remains unused.
She gave us all Maze and even let us taste some of her roasted Maze and it was so good!
Chris and Lisa had come suddenly to the school.
Then something devastating happened.
We were faced with a funeral to go to. Not just any funeral, a funeral for a 7 month old. The women were around the baby mourning, the men were in the background solemn and not showing emotion. The women wailed, and sang songs.
The part that was so devastating was the reason this child died. This child didn't have a life threatening disease by American standards. She was born with jaundice. In Kenya when a baby is born it is kept in the hut for 7 days, it doesn't see the light of day for any reason. By the end of the first week of its life its bile was white like cottage cheese, and that is when they brought the baby to LIsa. She immediately went to town to find an ultra violet light. When they finally found one and took it over, they realized the family didn't have electricity! They had to use 4 extension cords to plug it in. The mother knew how to read so not only did Lisa show her what to do but she left her with material to read about the reason for doing it. After 3 days of therapy, and Lisa checking in every day on the baby, the mother brought all of the equipment to Lisa and gave it to her saying "you are burning my child" and refused to do it anymore. The baby had had 3 blood transfusions and finally today at 7 months old, her liver failed and she passed in the hospital.
This would never happen in America, even to the poorest of poor. Our hospitals would not let anyone leave until the child is well and able. But the Kenyan hospital sent her and her baby home the day she was born, not treating the jaundice from the get go.
When Chris and Lisa came to the hospital Lisa said the mother told her "Now this burden is gone" That cut me to hear a mother say this! But it is the way these people think. I am so sad for them.
When Chris was telling us about the family he said it made him think of the Psalms that says "you are a lamp unto my feet", he explained what that verse actually meant. The lamp spoken about was an oil lamp, they didn't have the lamps we have now, these lamps let off very little light, in the dark it would let off enough light so that you could see just enough to step in front of you, so basically it was saying that we should trust in the Lord enough to only see your next step and that He will continue to show you the way and not lead you astray.
Today was joyful and heartbreaking all in the same day. I just cannot fathom a child dying from something so trivial as jaundice! All of my children had jaundice and it was NOTHING serious! But this child, this child is now buried in her parents backyard, with women and men mourning her death.
The funeral was a Christian one, the parents have known Chris and Lisa for a long time, they had counseled them before marriage and had been there thru the whole pregnancy, there at the birth etc. There was a mixture of Christian and old Tribal traditions.
As we walked up all of the women were encircled in the front yard around the body of the baby like a viewing. The baby was beautiful, she was dressed in a pretty little pink outfit.
Chris told us that the hospitals will not release bodies until you pay the bills, and so it is not uncommon when you are in a hospital to see dead bodies, blood and everything laid out on tables and no one pays any attention. They are not moved until the paperwork is done and the bill is paid.
When Chris and Lisa went to the hospital the child was laying on a bed in the hallway, the family didn't have the $3 it cost to get the paperwork and pay the bill, so they paid it for them. They didn't have the $5 it costs to buy a coffin, or the $6 it costs to buy a dress for the baby to be buried in. These people are so impoverished they couldn't afford the simplest of funerals for their little girl, and this is not uncommon!
The people here are poor, poor in America doesn't even touch poor in Africa. In America when you are poor you can still get medical care, groceries, and housing. Here when you are poor you are poor. The houses are made of mud, the children sleep in cramped corners, and sometimes have mosquito nets but not always. They barely have one pair of clothes, and those clothes are in tatters. They walk miles to school by themselves barefoot and think nothing of it, if they go to school.
Blessed is an understatement. Blessed does not begin to cover what we are. We are rich. I stress about paying bills, these people stress about eating even one meal per day.
I hope the things you hear from me create a sense of blessing in your life. I hope for myself that I remember that I get to go home to air conditioning, a bed with a mattress, and food for every meal. My children have shoes and clothes and are fed, and when they are sick they have a doctor to go to who is qualified. We are truly blessed. Let us not forget that!
God Bless!
Rach
Rach
I know I have been posting over and over about donations. I know sometimes when that happens, I myself have even been known to just skip over these types of things. I am asking you to not skip over! 
The children I just visited literally walk miles to and from school. They don't have running water and get their clean water from Mbewau (one of the projects we support), they don't understand the simple medical things that are every day life to us. I witnessed a funeral for a 7 month old baby girl, an unnecessary funeral, the cause of death...JAUNDICE! If you are a mother chances are your child was born with a case of jaundice, whether slight or severe. It was treated and your child is healthy and active today. This child's mother didn't understand that it needed the ultra violet light to help its body, she thought it was burning her child and stopped using it. This choice ultimately led to the untimely death of an innocent child. 
I witnessed a child who had scraped his leg. If you have children that are boys, or know of child boys you know they do that quite often. If untreated and you have poor hygiene, it can quickly become life threatening. I listened to my friend, one of our teammates, who helped clean and bandage this child's infected leg, silently sob as she retold the pain he was in. 
I witnessed children eating, and not just eating, but healthy meals that were provided for them twice a day! Sometimes this was the only meal they received. The porridge was bland and they got rice or yugali and beans for lunch, but never once did I hear a complaint! I saw happy, smiling, grateful little faces!
The M.O.V.E (Motivate others, seek Opportunity for change, use your Voice for the Lord, and Experience God's grace), is all about raising awareness for these projects. We are trying to get the word out to those who don't know them, to help them raise support enough to build what they need when they need it, to be able to offer the medicine needed when needed, to be able to feed the hungry, and educate the uneducated!
