I am home! Actually I have been home since Sunday night, sorry it took me so long to post. I'm catching up on sleep, visiting with grandparents who are here, unpacking, trying to process all that went on in the past 5 weeks. I can't believe it came and went so quickly. As much as I'm glad to be home, I miss Africa- the land, the people, the other volunteers. I want to share one last post, from Saturday July 25. I spent the day in Nairobi visiting William, the 9-year-old I sponsor through Compassion International. It was by far the best way to end this trip I could ever imagine.

A Compassion staff member, Jim, picked me up from the airport that morning. Jim was a great guy. He was very friendly and easy to talk to. The first question about my family was “Are they all Christians?” He told me how he started working with Compassion too. He was applying with Navigators to be a discipleship training leader, but when he didn’t get that job, they referred him to Compassion. And his words “They gave me this chance to serve.” Not just a job, but a place to serve.

We stopped by the market to buy foodstuffs for William's family. Because it was Saturday, the kids were at the project. I first met Mike, who is the project director. He took me to his office and told me a little about the project itself. The kids come on Saturdays and are trained in four areas- social, spiritual, physical, financial. Twice a year they have doctors come in and give all the kids a physical to check for major issues. They tutor them in subjects they are struggling with in school. They also teach them different crafts/skills that will be source of income for those who do not go to secondary school or university. The area is surrounded by coffee farms. He said that most of the parents work on the farms for about $1.50 a day, but usually there was not enough work for everybody so they only work 2-4 days a week.

Then they went and got William. I could see him walking up from the window and I just started smiling and I don’t think I stopped all afternoon. It was a pretty surreal moment. He was super nervous though. He wouldn’t really look at me and kept fidgeting with the chair. He did welcome me and when he said my name it was the cutest thing I have ever heard. They told him he could go get his best friend, Joseph, to hang out with us for the rest of the afternoon, and that put him more at ease.

Afterwards, Susan, their social worker, showed me William’s file. It had all the paper work from his recruitment, when he was being considered for the project. It had pictures of him when he was little. It had all the reports from their visits to his school, to his home, and notes from his doctor check-ups. I read over them and it looks like he is in pretty good health and doing well in school. He switched schools this year and on the question about his friends, it showed that Joseph was on both lists, from the old school and new. He’s written to me about Joseph several times so it was awesome to meet him too. They were so cute together, walking with their arms around each other. I pray that friendship lasts and grows.

The last page was a checklist of goals per age. It showed which bible verses he has memorized, which bible stories he can tell from memory, and what goals he is working towards now. These people are very commited and passionate these kids and their spiritual growth.

Next I got a tour of the project. We went to see some girls who were doing what they call weaving. It’s what we call latch hook. They were doing a cool pattern that was the name of their school. Mike was saying that when they continue and get really good they will be able to sell them at the market for income. Next we saw a classroom where they were learning to cut hair. A little boy was getting his haircut by another little girl there. Finally we went and saw where the music we had been hearing all afternoon was coming from. They had an electric keyboard and this kid was really good. He could start the bass and backbeat rhythm then play an awesome song. I was really impressed. I then signed the guestbook as we do everywhere we go and we headed to his house.

They don’t accept kids farther than 5K from the project so that they will be able to walk there. I don’t know exactly how far he lives from the project but it would have been a good walk. His ‘village’ was in the middle of the coffee fields. This was more of what I expected when I came to Africa. This is the slums. They were much poorer than the people in the village in Uganda. Houses were made of mud and tin, attached to each other, kids running around, trash everywhere. It looks exactly like Compassion commercials. On the ride over, I had given William and Joseph each a pack of Skittles. They were so excited. William had eaten about half of his by the time we got to his house. When we got out of the car, all the other kids that live near him ran up to us. He introduced us to his older sister, Margret, and then I saw him hand his pack of Skittles to one of the younger kids. How happy that made my heart.

His mother came out to meet us. I knew his father wasn’t in the picture, but I was not expecting his mom to look only a little older than me. But she was gracious and excited to have us in her home. We walked through this alley type walkway, and ducked into their house. One room, divided by a curtain, but with a nice seating area set up. We sat and did introductions and welcoming. His mother said that she recognized me from the photo I sent years ago, but that she had kept. She went and got a box that had all of the letters and pictures I had ever sent him. I gave him the other pictures I had brought and told him that I would be sending pictures from today- Jim was so nice and took pictures of us while we were doing different things.

Then I got to give him the things I had brought. For his mom, I had saved my airline blanket, which she loved. I gave William, Joseph, and Margret each a coloring book and crayons. I had combs, hairclips, headbands, and some animals for Margret. Her face lit up. Then I pulled out the toothbrushes and toothpaste for each of them. They got really excited about the Cars Frisbee as well. I gave him a Tennessee tshirt, which he immediately put on. Everyone looks good in orange. He had told me in his letters that he like playing with cars and playing football. He was so excited about all the matchbox cars too. I saved the best for last. A new soccer ball and pump. He helped me pump it up and then he just held it. He didn’t let go of that thing the rest of the time.

His mom had prepared tea and a snack for us. It ended up being milk with sugar and cocoa powder in it that was quite good. She also had bought some kind of muffins, bananas, and oranges. Gestures like this mean so much more when you know how extremely little they have. Throughout the whole time, every kid in the village it seemed was sitting outside the door staring at me. They really never see white people here. I would wave and then they would get super excited then run away, but always come back. I then presented the foodstuffs to his mom and she said she had a gift for me. She brought out this beautiful red, black, and gold scarf. She wrapped it on me then we took more pictures. When it was time to leave, Jim gave a little speech. He talked about how this visit would ‘go down in history’ not just for William, but for his family and their village and their project as well. Only two other sponsors had ever visited kids from this project. He talked about how they all prayed that I would get to see William grow, physically and spiritually, see him graduate, get married. If they only knew how I prayed for that as well and how honored I was to be there. How humbled, overwhelmed. William was so cute, he was still being pretty shy, but I could tell he was excited about is presents because he thanked me several times. I prayed for the house and their family, then we went outside to take more pictures. It was sad to leave, but it was neat to see how well Compassion is being a responsible steward of sponsors' money and really making a difference in the lives of these people. Not just the kids, but their families too.

Driving back through the countryside to Nairobi, I got to see how different Kenya was than Uganda. Kenya has a different smell than Uganda. It sounds funny, and I didn’t think about it when I was in Uganda, but it has a unique smell. I don’t know how to describe the smells because they are not always pleasant, but they were different. It was more of what I imagined Africa to be, more brown than green, flat, Acacia trees growing everywhere. I miss the lushness and mountains of Uganda already. I did like the city of Nairobi more than Kampala. Maybe it was because I was there during the day. Or maybe it was because the roads were much better.

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support. This was a life-changing trip.