Arriving at the children's home on Sunday morning was very emotional. The kids were so excited to see us and greeted us with a special song to welcome us (Watch it HERE). Like typical Americans, we whipped out our phones as quickly as we could to capture the moment. We spent the rest of the morning worshiping with the children and playing games with them before sitting down for lunch (Courtney shared an amazing video of Kenyan worship HERE).
As we spent time at the home it became very apparent that the home had many needs. While touring the grounds we realized that planting a tomato garden might not be the best use of our time and money, so Mary began to talk with Elizabeth & James, two of the house parents, and it was decided that in order to provide safe, healthy food for the kids we needed to put a concrete floor in the outdoor kitchen. We started joking that tomato is Swahili for concrete.
Bright and early the next morning we arrived back at the children's home ready to work and were met with a fun surprise. David, a worker at the home, had a couple friends who had volunteered to help. (So they could learn how to do concrete work for future employment & to help the children.) Then we began hand mixing the cement, sand, gravel & water. On the ground. With shovels. Praise God for sending extra help! It was hot, dusty, sweaty work, but we got it done! And it even looks pretty good too!
But best of all, the home now has a safe and clean place to cook the food.
There are still many things that the home needs. It has no electricity or running water which makes it hard for them to stay in contact with Remember Nhu, and it's hard to provide clean, safe water for the kids and adults who live there. The boy's bedroom needs a floor, they currently have a dirt floor with bunk beds.
But the kids do have the most important things. They are loved. They are safe. They are happy. And they are learning about Jesus.
