Every Saturday the older students go home and we open the school up to 200 orphans and disadvantaged kids in this area. It's the typical Africa thing: HIV kills Mum after Dad runs off to Kenya or HIV or malaria kills them both. The whole tragedy is always avoidable but as they said in Blood Diamond: “TIA“(This Is Africa) Sometimes the kids have a home situation that is horrible due to incompetent parents. One boy I have come to know quite well, Dickson, had is hand covered in oil and set on fire after his Mum discovered that he had picked the family beans and sold them to his neighbour. Yeah. That would classify as "incompetent".
Our kids have got to know Emmanuel. He is being raised by his brother who's trying as hard as he can since his parents died but that's a tough row to hoe with 6 kids to look after at age 17. When Emmanuel came to his (and our) first Saturday, he was withdrawn and non communicative. The kids just zeroed in on him and played with him and gave him extra stuff to try to make him feel welcome. During the week, they climbed up his mountain and visited him at his home and dropped off food and clothes a couple of times. Now it's the third Saturday and he's a ball of laughter. The change has been dramatic. The kids plan to pool their allowance together and they plan to sponsor him on a yearly basis.
Another student we are going to support is a 16 year old that lost his parents and lives with an abusive uncle who resents the drain on resources that he and his siblings draw away from his own family. He is enrolled in the school training to be a carpenter because he lives near one of the teachers and was about to cross the border to join a rebel group in Kenya onlly because they would feed him. The teacher talked him out of that and got him enrolled. Now he is way behind on his fees and can't afford a uniform and is in danger of being dropped from the very program that will, for all intents and purposes, save his life. All he needs is $75 to make a massive difference in his future.
There are hundreds of stories just like this and if any of you would like to sponsor a child, we can arrange for this with virtually no administration fee (3%) and direct contact with the child. If you're at all interested, let me know and I have an abundance of candidates. It would probably cost you about $200 per year.
The orphans come over at about 9 am and they go to classes such as beading and music. After that, the boys come with Paul and I and we have a spirited game of soccer. They howl in laughter every time I trip or make one of my bad passes, etc... It's a time of joy in an otherwise grim world.
During our soccer time, Diana and the girls look after the kids who have come to us sick and help in beading class, etc... They dispense the medicines and just try to comfort them through the fever. They usually have malaria since most of the homes are too poor to afford nets or sometimes they just don't realize how important the nets are or sometimes, there's nobody who cares enough. During the week, we also go visit 10 or so kids at their home so Diana can follow up on their needs and give guidance to the guardians. This is usually when we find the mosquito nets or alcohol swabs left unused in the corner.
After soccer, we all just hang out together and they laugh at me more as I try to learn their language. They are given a big meal of posho, (Made of maize and looks like mashed potatoes but has less taste) beans and rice. At 1pm a truck comes and they all load in and they go home. We all crash in the afternoon, emotionally exhausted.
Our kids have got to know Emmanuel. He is being raised by his brother who's trying as hard as he can since his parents died but that's a tough row to hoe with 6 kids to look after at age 17. When Emmanuel came to his (and our) first Saturday, he was withdrawn and non communicative. The kids just zeroed in on him and played with him and gave him extra stuff to try to make him feel welcome. During the week, they climbed up his mountain and visited him at his home and dropped off food and clothes a couple of times. Now it's the third Saturday and he's a ball of laughter. The change has been dramatic. The kids plan to pool their allowance together and they plan to sponsor him on a yearly basis.
Another student we are going to support is a 16 year old that lost his parents and lives with an abusive uncle who resents the drain on resources that he and his siblings draw away from his own family. He is enrolled in the school training to be a carpenter because he lives near one of the teachers and was about to cross the border to join a rebel group in Kenya onlly because they would feed him. The teacher talked him out of that and got him enrolled. Now he is way behind on his fees and can't afford a uniform and is in danger of being dropped from the very program that will, for all intents and purposes, save his life. All he needs is $75 to make a massive difference in his future.
There are hundreds of stories just like this and if any of you would like to sponsor a child, we can arrange for this with virtually no administration fee (3%) and direct contact with the child. If you're at all interested, let me know and I have an abundance of candidates. It would probably cost you about $200 per year.
The orphans come over at about 9 am and they go to classes such as beading and music. After that, the boys come with Paul and I and we have a spirited game of soccer. They howl in laughter every time I trip or make one of my bad passes, etc... It's a time of joy in an otherwise grim world.
During our soccer time, Diana and the girls look after the kids who have come to us sick and help in beading class, etc... They dispense the medicines and just try to comfort them through the fever. They usually have malaria since most of the homes are too poor to afford nets or sometimes they just don't realize how important the nets are or sometimes, there's nobody who cares enough. During the week, we also go visit 10 or so kids at their home so Diana can follow up on their needs and give guidance to the guardians. This is usually when we find the mosquito nets or alcohol swabs left unused in the corner.
After soccer, we all just hang out together and they laugh at me more as I try to learn their language. They are given a big meal of posho, (Made of maize and looks like mashed potatoes but has less taste) beans and rice. At 1pm a truck comes and they all load in and they go home. We all crash in the afternoon, emotionally exhausted.
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