Kitale | Light Up Hope

Life is wonderful. These kids know it, they really do.

October 24, 2013 KellyUncategorized

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. […]

20 Things I learned in Kenya

October 15, 2013 KellyUncategorized

(Heidi pictured second blonde from the left) In October we sent a team of 10 to visit, serve and play alongside the children of Hope Children’s Home in Kitale, Kenya. One of the team members, Heidi, shared her reflections with us and we in turn share them with you… 1. Squatty potties and airplane toilets take talent. Pure talent. 2. A “ball” can be a plastic bag that’s filled with dirt and then tied. A hammer can be a stone. Food leftovers can provide a meal for pigs. Just don’t get too attached to the tiny bunnies and don’t ask them what they want to be when they grow up because the profession of “lunch” might depress them. The circle of life can sometimes put baby in a corner. (one of the empowerment projects in place at Hope Children’s Home Farm is raising rabbits for food) 3. Red dirt + moving bricks + pouring rain + orphans’ smiles= Therapy you can’t buy. (the team helped build another one of our empowerment projects – aquaponics vegetable gardening and fish farming) 4. Eating the meat off fish and chicken heads is known as zero waste. 5. Kenyan churches put the “mega” in […]