January 31, 2007

Jambo (Hello) from Africa!

Habari? (How is everyone?) I’m finally beginning to get settled into my new life for the next 5 ½ months. The team from Thousand Oaks just left after a whirlwind of activity. We spent most of our days rocking babies, wiping up spit up, chasing toddlers, and bottle feeding infants. We also managed to drive out to the Masai Mara to visit a medical clinic which treats the Masai tribal people.

I was feeling a little bit nervous about this whole next venture until I stepped inside the gates of the New Life Homes (NLH). This place is refuge, sanctuary. A garden of eden in the midst of chaos. While the team was here, we stayed in a small guest house about 100 feet from the NLH. And now that the team is gone, I’ve begun to move into the guest house on the compound. It’s about 500 square feet total with a small kitchen (fridge, sink, stovetop) and small bathroom. I feel like I’m in college again moving into my dorm room. It’s clean, bright, and more than adequate. Once I plugged in my laptop and ipod, I was a happy girl! (And some of you might be wondering – there’s no T.V.! I’ll be completely detoxed from T.V. by the time I leave here. It’s actually a blessing, it leaves more room for thought and prayer.)

Today, I went with Anne Marie (the NLH director) to Nairobi Chapel for Sunday services. And guess what? They need volunteers in Children’s Ministry here, too! (Guess it’s a worldwide phenomenon). So I offered to help. I ended up observing in a classroom full of 4-year olds. Jan, the Children’s Ministry Director had told me that there is a need in this age group because “the teacher is not well.” As I sat and observed this teacher named Joy doing her best to tell the story of Jesus healing the blind man with His mixture of mud and spit, I couldn’t help but marvel. This woman, Joy, was obviously dying of AIDS. And the disease was taking full course. She was thin as a rail, nose running, and yet still teaching. I was amazed at her strength and her courage. Joy had a baby on her hip – a baby she would one day soon, have to leave. I came home to my house and cried. AIDS is the thief in the night here. AIDS is creating a teacher shortage, a parent shortage, a human shortage here. Today, AIDS had a face, and she was volunteering in children’s ministry despite her weakness, despite her sickness, despite her death sentence. I am so blessed to meet people such as Joy. They give my life perspective.

I feel at times lonely and confined to this compound, but then God reminds me to step outside my front door and there’s plenty of love to go around. My front door opens to a large grassy area where toddlers and babies can be seen running around in swimsuits (if the day is hot and they’re “swimming”) or kicking balls, or falling down and crying. The minute you step onto the grass, you’ll be greeted by little arms around your legs and a demand, “Pick me up! Up!” There are 53 babies here in the Nairobi home. They are divided according to developmental stages. There are teeny-weenies (my name for the babies I’m afraid I might break when I pick them up) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who are new arrivals from the police, the streets, or the hospitals (which do more harm than help). The ICU babies are severely underweight and in need of a lot of special attention. And then there’s the Special Care Unit – where the babies are who’ve just graduated from ICU. Then there are the Crawlers who are beginning to develop baby skills and lastly there are the Toddlers who are walking, talking (just barely), and learning the universal – “No!” Right now there’s a lack of prospective families looking to adopt these children, which means that NLH is at an unhealthy standstill – unable to take in new ICU children (from 0-3 months) until some others move on. Pray for new families for these children!

Every child here has a story. Some of the children arrive here with “bed sores” on their heels and feet from neglect. They’ve been left lying somewhere for so long that their flesh has begun to rot. But now they’re here – they’ve been rescued – and they can begin to be restored. Some of you (especially CCTO people and SonTime kids) will remember Baby Erica. She was basically our “poster child” for the Acts 1:8 campaign. Remember how she was so starving that she sucked on her little fist for nourishment until she created a hole beneath her lower lip? Well, now she’s a healthy and relatively happy baby! And she’s getting adopted! How cool is that? But there are so many more just like baby Erica. To paraphrase Julie Tucker, one of the Rock the Baby Team members – I’m so grateful for this place and for what they’re doing for all of these children, but I can’t help but think about all of the children who aren’t here. What about those children?

I love and miss all of you. I have an extra bed here in case anyone wants to come visit! I know I’ll be in Nairobi for most of May and June…

Much Love,
janay