Lunch with the Kibera faculty and some students

This morning we finished the 400 individual cards for the children at the Kibera school to encourage them and to let them know they would be remembered by us. We headed out when that was done to purchase beans for the school. We were able to buy 315 kilos which would be 788 lbs. at a cost of $258.13. We needed to do this because there was not enough money raised yet to ship the Stop Hunger Now food over. The beans will help for a while but the Stop Hunger Now food would allow them to eat every day of the week and not just two or three. Some children have to take half of their lunch home for a sibling and still it is the only meal of the day for them.

From here we drove to a small shopping center with a restaurant that we would eventually fill with the 8 of us and 18 staff and students from Kibera. Each student was chosen by their classmates to be a representative for their class. My table had a boy from level 8 and three girls from levels 3,4 , and 6. Edward was very well spoken and want to study science at the university to be an engineer. The oldest girl wanted to study to be a doctor and the other two wanted to be nurses. Edwards thoughts of being a rich man would be to have a Mercedes Benz and a driver like we have in the US. We assured him that we didn't have Mercedes nor did we have drivers. Only movie stars and executives have drivers. Regular people drive their own cars. I was able to talk to some of the teachers after lunch . One of the men that I talked to one the first day going into Kibera was the one I talked to today. Edward said he gave credit to this teacher for his success since he came to Kibera in level 2. I talked to him about his love of teaching and the problems he sees in Kibera. He talked about living contented with what God gives you in life and not want any more than you can take care of. We talked of the plague of HIV/ Aids and how so many of the school children are orphans because both of their parents have died of this awful disease. This man was 34 but had the face of one much older. Not so much a wrinkled face, but a face that has seen so much tragedy in his young life that it has aged him with a wisdom and concern for his people and these children. God bless Elijah.

Tonight we pack for a 7 am departure for our last few days here in Kenya. This place is much like New Mexico in that when you first see it you think what a God forsaken place. But then, it grows on you and it becomes enchanting. I am becoming enchanted with Kenya.