Wednesday, July 3rd - Kenya

America World Adoption ACT Mission Trips

Guest post by team member Heather Middleton

Today did not start off the greatest for our poor Savanna... She woke up very ill. She ended up staying behind in the comforts of the guest home where there was a nice toiletJ Luckily the baby home was close to the guest home and we were scheduled to go back to the guest home for lunch to check on her.

Once we arrived at the baby home to the cheers of the precious children. Running to the gate as soon as we pulled up. Pastor Joe’s little Sammy came running for him as soon as we all started stepping out of the van. He ran past many of us to get to his “Joe”.  

We started the morning out just spending time and loving on the sweet children. Many just wanted to be held by someone. Some one on one attention is exactly what they wanted. The environment at this baby home was a loving one.

We met two interns Amy and Maggie who will spend 6 weeks in Africa working in the orphanages of Chariots of Hope.  They were very sweet girls. The nursemaids in this facility are hard to keep due to the long hours and the hard work. Without the 2 interns, they only had maybe 8 nursemaids for over 40 small children.

In the afternoon we set up our stations in their classroom. The children sang songs to us and we sang songs with them. It was beautiful. The children ranged from 3-6 and they were the most behaved group of children that age I have ever seen!! I held a short devotion, we painted nails, painted faces, played with play dough, made bracelets and colored on blank paper. They had a BALL!!

Julie ended up taking Savanna to the local “hospital” to get checked out. It just happened to be next door to our guest home (God thing!). After numerous tests, they confirmed she had Malaria!!! We could not believe it!! She was given many different types of drugs and sent back to the guesthouse. I felt so bad for her as I know she waited for this trip for a long time. It was heartbreaking for her.  The housemaids at the guesthouse were so concerned and took very good care of her. They held her head up, provided comfort, brought soup, and kept checking on her. Amazing!

Saying goodbye to the children that evening was extremely difficult as many of us were really attached to some of the children. It was a lot more difficult than I expected. They clung tightly to us as we left. Not wanting us to leave. Tears were definitely shed by many as our bus pulled away for the final time.    

We invited Amy & Maggie to join us for dinner and a hot shower, they gladly accepted. It was nice to be able to encourage them in their journey as they have about 2 weeks left in Africa.

Heather

Maai-mahiu