Monday - final day in Meru

Adahlia is a quick healer and has been feeling great since Monday night/Tuesday morning. Thanks for the prayers!

Monday began with a visit to John and Carissa’s sponsored child Robert. Hope guardian Amalia and her friend Susan are very invested in Robert’s life. They joined the team for the visit. (Side note: It becomes clearer and clearer that the Guardians invest much more money in these children than what we sponsors send in. They love these people like family and when they ask for food or another necessity, they find a bit of extra money from their own humble income to help. It’s really inspiring.) The vans parked on the side of a road and we walked a pretty long way down a trail/narrow dirt road. As we walked, kids silently emerged shyly waving at us and walking along with us. By the time we reached Robert’s house we probably had about a dozen kids there! Amalia informed us that these were all cousins to Robert and we were experiencing a true village. A family who has a piece of land and subdivided it between family members over the course of generations. They all live in community. When Carissa thanked the grandmother for taking care of Robert, Josephine quipped “It takes a village.” Suddenly that saying made perfect sense!

During the visit Carissa toured the home and got to know the grandmother better. I (Pam) had the village girls teach me their clapping games, which was a joy. Josephine translated the stories that go along with the rhythms, which were just as silly as my sing-song stories growing up. Darren pulled out his phone and we taught the children the cha cha slide and the hokey pokey. They were more than willing to give it a try. Sometimes we’d dance too close to the goats or run into the clothes line but it was all good.

As we said goodbye, the children escorted us all the way back to the road. Robert grinning up on John’s shoulders. Girls gripping both my hands. When our hands got sweaty they both let go and studied their hands. I think they expected the sweat to be white like my skin!

Josephine gave Crew Leader shirts to the children from the back of the van and we took off.

That afternoon we met with the Hope Board. This post is already long, so suffice it to say it was a bit of a love fest. They wanted to thank us for UPPC’s investment, and we wanted to thank them for their investment in the children. It was wonderful to hear personal accounts from them of kids lives being changed — graduates from the program who are able to support themselves so the next generation in their family will not be in the same desperate place financially. They fervently report that the program is changing, not just kids’ lives, but future generations. Praise God for this good work.