February
18, 2011 TMSC,
Kenya - Day 5 – Friday
Last
night was really cold. We fell asleep and not long after, a nice rain on our
tin roof awakened us. I love that sound…but it didn’t last for long. It was
followed by one of the hardest rainstorms that I’ve ever heard. It was so loud
that when I yelled Amanda’s name, she couldn’t hear me! She was only 5 feet
away! I am not a huge fan of thunderstorms, so I wasn’t particularly fond of
the loud, crashing on our tin roof. It was a good time of prayer for me,
though. I thought about all of the people out there with little to no shelter
from this storm. Those whose roofs leak and water gets in. Those who live on
hillsides - where water may be rushing into their homes. It broke my heart. We
are so fortunate to have what we do – even just on our $1 per day. As I sit
now, I can’t help but think of 2 of our sweet kids here at Tumaini. Their
parents were all killed in a mudslide a few years ago. That mudslide happened
because of too much rain on a unstable hill. The line is so fine with rain. It
can sometimes do harm, but without it, there is no life.
I had to
go to the bathroom SO bad right smack in the middle of the storm. Normally, I
would just walk down the hall and use the one that’s inside the house…not this
week. Like most people in poverty, we don’t have indoor plumbing. Our ‘toilets’
are about 50 yards away from our house. There was NO WAY that I was going out
in that weather! I decided that since it was raining so hard, that I would just
go right outside the door J
My thought was that it would be washed away by the flood…so what’s the harm?!
After that, I made a bed in our room for our sweet puppy, Roxy. She was SO
excited to be welcomed in. She was soaking wet and shaking from the cold. So
she laid right down and fell asleep….sweet girl!
When
morning came, Amanda set her bath water out to let it warm up in the sun. I, on
the other hand, had to use my basin to wash the shirt that I let Roxy borrow as
her blanket! We had run out of sugar the night before, so we decided that we
wanted more. It has really helped by making us feel like we were getting
‘something’ other than milk and water. We took a short walk up to the shack
where they sell the sugar in small amounts. We had to wait for a while bc the
lady had stepped out. After some video interviews, she came and sold us our
beloved sugar. After arriving back
at our house, we drank our breakfast of 2 cups of tea. My stomach has shrunk a
lot, so the tea is pretty filling for about an hour. After that, the hunger sets back in. It’s getting harder bc
the hunger is a constant feeling now. It doesn’t go away and only gets worse
over time. I can’t imagine a life like this. It’s miserable.
We took a
much-needed bath today. It’s amazing the odor that your body can produce :/
Even bathing over the toilet, as gross as it was, made me feel like a new
person! My bath was SPER cold though bc I didn’t set my water out in the sun. I
learned that lesson quick! This
afternoon I continued on with the books for the reading program. This program
is so important bc it gets kids reading…kids who have never had books before.
As soon as we walk in the door the kid’s faces light up. It is such a blessing
to see their minds and imaginations grow with each turn of the page. Natasha,
our sweet friend from the UK, is coming up with comprehension questions for
each book. My job is to read the book and answer the questions. This way we can
make sure that the questions are appropriate and also that the teachers can
have an answer key for all of the books. Once we’re finished, our hope is that
these kids will be able to read the books, but also understand what they’re
reading. It’s going to be great!
Before
lunch I helped fit some kids for their uniforms. A lady here, Dorothy, has been
making uniforms for weeks! Today, we tried them on the kids to make sure that
they fit. If they did, they could take them home. If not, they left them for
minor alterations and can pick them up tomorrow. Their faces were filled with
such joyful smiles! Some have never had a uniform before…and those that do are
tattered and torn. It was an awesome sight. Then I went back inside for some
more reading program work. It’s beginning to get tiring bc my mind is slowing
down. The lack of energy from our lack of nutrition is taking it’s toll on me.
My head is a big jumbled mess. It’s so hard to concentrate…so reading is quite
a challenge of it’s own. Even if it takes me forever, I WILL press on!
Lunch
today was awful. I am so suck of
ugali and if I never saw it again it would be too soon! Its almost worse to eat
it bc it makes me even more hungry. Once I eat it my body gets excited for
more…but there is no more. There is never more. Natasha told me today that our
4 cups of tea and handful of ugali is less than 600 calories. That’s 600
calories in 1 whole day. That explains why I feel so useless all the time. My
body is beginning to feel sick bc of the lack of nutrition that we’re
getting…it hurts. I can’t imagine how it feels to go more than a week like
this…a month, a year, ten years, a lifetime for some…I don’t know why they even
want to keep living…
As I
continued reading the books and answering questions my sweet Doro walked by the
door. Natasha brought her over bc she wanted to see me! I LOVE this little
girl. She’s still not feeling well so I just held her for a little while. It
was exactly what we both needed! Another AWESOME thing happened today…I
received my package from my parents!! It’s my birthday box that I’ve been
expecting! As soon as I got it I felt a tear run down my face. It’s been such a
hard week and to even just see my mom’s handwriting made my heart smile. I miss
my family and I am so thankful for their continued love and support. I’m not
going to open the package until I can call them…only a few more days! This
really gave me a boost to finish out this week ‘strong.’
Soon it
was time for dinner and we were really excited bc we had bananas left over from
yesterday! So we got our tea and headed to our house. When we got to our room,
we found that someone had STOLEN OUR BANANA!! We were in shock that someone had
come in our room and stolen our precious food. We have recently learned that in
Kenya, they usually kill thieves…now we won’t go that far, but we would like to
know who did it! This happens a lot to the poor, so we’ve learned. It breaks my
heart bc these people have SO little, and it’s its taken from them, they have
nothing. The good thing is that we still had 1 mango left from the other day. So
we had our candlelight dinner and split the mango and our 1 remaining banana. It
was really nice!
Our devo
with the girls tonight was a really good one – we talked about how God has a
perfect plan for each of us. We talked about how no matter what we’re going
through now, God has a plan for us and HE will work everything out for good. It
was exactly when I needed to hear tonight. Thank you, Lord, for your Word and
for your action in my life!!
As I ger
ready for bed I’m hungry – it just keeps getting worse. Lord, please help me to
sleep tonight and be rested for another day. This hunger is not fun and it
affects EVERY part of me. My emotions are high – frustrations are high – but my
energy level is low. Hunger is real. Poverty is real.
Day 5 Complete
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