Jill was with us in March of 2012 when we first stepped onto the land in Kitale that would become Hope Children’s Home. Jill met the children when they were still living in Nairobi and suffering from the hardships of life there. She is now nearing the end of her month long mission in Kenya. She shares with us her reflections on the life the children are living now that they are all settled in Kitale.
I have no idea where to start when reflecting back on this week. What I can say is that when God moves, he amazes. Especially if you are looking and watching and waiting for an answer to prayer. I cannot count how many prayers have been answered since the beginning of this trip. God hears. God listens. God answers.
Kitale began with Kiswahili lessons. Dannie and I were riding with Fred and Alice when we began the list of words and phrases in Swahili that would grow extensively over the next week. Learning even just pieces and parts of their language has been and experience in itself. We quickly learned not to trust Alice as she was giving us incorrect translations as a joke. Dannie and I caught on quickly as Remjus was very very bad at keeping the secret and Fred never lies.
The smiles on the faces of the safe house kids are brighter and better now that they have the freedom of the land in Kitale. They play more and they feel safer and they are less confined than they were in Nairobi. There is so much love and so much hope,
The game of Kickball was absolutely fantastic. Those kids catch on quickly. And anything with a winner and a loser is enough to get every Kenyan boy within a mile to come and play. Alice even got in on the action and I got to see her sprint from basket to basket (they were our bases) while dodging the throws of her safe house kids.
We sang and danced and just had a wonderfully good time.
Life is wonderful. These kids know it, they really do.
This is such a powerful post. Thanks for writing it. You guys are doing such a meaningful thing, giving children love and hope. I’m from Singapore and am immersely blessed with loving parents and a comfortable life. With all these abundance around me, I want to give back like what you are doing – spreading hope. This is truly inspirational 🙂