I promise I'll post pictures on facebook soon, but there's so much to write about and I want to get at least a few things out while they're still fresh in my mind!
My parents sponsor a brother and sister here, Joseph and Ruth. 11 and 7 years old, they live in a Nairobi slum near Victory Christian Centre with their grandma and two cousins. Joseph is a quiet, studious 6th grader and Ruth is a 2nd grader with the biggest little kid smile I've ever seen. As always, my parents were excited to pick out some special gifts, but this time my goal was not only to give the gifts, but to get to know the kids that have been on pictures on my parents' fridge for over 4 years now.
We picked the two up from school around noon. Joseph had an afternoon exam, but Ruth was allowed to go with us for the rest of the day. On the way to lunch at a Java Cafe located in a new, modern shopping mall, they read the letters my parents wrote them, Joseph helping his little sister with the words she didn't know, but at first I wasn't able to get them to say much else. Soon I started quizzing them on their math though and Joseph was excited to show off his knowledge of arithmetic, fractions, and decimals. Ruth used her fingers to add 5 and 3 (8, for those of you following along at home) and grinned and put her hands in front of her face when I told her how well she had done.
At lunch, we found out that Joseph aspires to be a banker and that Ruth likes smiling and the color yellow. We gave them the gifts and had just enough time to finish lunch and give Joseph a quick tutorial on his new Uno game, which I expect will be getting a lot of mileage with him and his friends. Tom then took Joseph back to school leaving Jerry, Ruth, and I to fend for ourselves for the afternoon.
We played Ruth's new memory game a couple of times (she's great at memorizing, which will come as no surprise to those familiar with developing world education systems) then headed up to Funscapes, essentially a Kenyan Chuck-E-Cheese, on the 3rd floor of the mall. We played bumper cars, rode a merry-go-round, jumped on a giant trampoline, and played on a *legit* playground. Ruth stayed quiet at first, but couldn't control her laughter on the trampoline and when we hit the playground we finally got Ruth to match the excitement she always has on her face with some words. And like most kids, when she gets talking she really gets going. "We are going over here next!" "You take picha of me!" "Now I take picha of you!" It's magical to see a kid come out of herself and really come alive!
Our playtime came to an end around 3:30PM and we took Ruth back to the school to be taken home. Spending this time playing with her was truly special, made me realize how extraordinarily blessed I am to be a dad and get to do this with my own son anytime - I pray I never take that blessing for granted. It also made me see how blessed Ruth is to have sponsors who would make a time like this possible for her. For all of you who sponsor kids, you're changing their lives forever. Don't ever forget that.
My parents sponsor a brother and sister here, Joseph and Ruth. 11 and 7 years old, they live in a Nairobi slum near Victory Christian Centre with their grandma and two cousins. Joseph is a quiet, studious 6th grader and Ruth is a 2nd grader with the biggest little kid smile I've ever seen. As always, my parents were excited to pick out some special gifts, but this time my goal was not only to give the gifts, but to get to know the kids that have been on pictures on my parents' fridge for over 4 years now.
We picked the two up from school around noon. Joseph had an afternoon exam, but Ruth was allowed to go with us for the rest of the day. On the way to lunch at a Java Cafe located in a new, modern shopping mall, they read the letters my parents wrote them, Joseph helping his little sister with the words she didn't know, but at first I wasn't able to get them to say much else. Soon I started quizzing them on their math though and Joseph was excited to show off his knowledge of arithmetic, fractions, and decimals. Ruth used her fingers to add 5 and 3 (8, for those of you following along at home) and grinned and put her hands in front of her face when I told her how well she had done.
At lunch, we found out that Joseph aspires to be a banker and that Ruth likes smiling and the color yellow. We gave them the gifts and had just enough time to finish lunch and give Joseph a quick tutorial on his new Uno game, which I expect will be getting a lot of mileage with him and his friends. Tom then took Joseph back to school leaving Jerry, Ruth, and I to fend for ourselves for the afternoon.
We played Ruth's new memory game a couple of times (she's great at memorizing, which will come as no surprise to those familiar with developing world education systems) then headed up to Funscapes, essentially a Kenyan Chuck-E-Cheese, on the 3rd floor of the mall. We played bumper cars, rode a merry-go-round, jumped on a giant trampoline, and played on a *legit* playground. Ruth stayed quiet at first, but couldn't control her laughter on the trampoline and when we hit the playground we finally got Ruth to match the excitement she always has on her face with some words. And like most kids, when she gets talking she really gets going. "We are going over here next!" "You take picha of me!" "Now I take picha of you!" It's magical to see a kid come out of herself and really come alive!
Our playtime came to an end around 3:30PM and we took Ruth back to the school to be taken home. Spending this time playing with her was truly special, made me realize how extraordinarily blessed I am to be a dad and get to do this with my own son anytime - I pray I never take that blessing for granted. It also made me see how blessed Ruth is to have sponsors who would make a time like this possible for her. For all of you who sponsor kids, you're changing their lives forever. Don't ever forget that.
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