In Step and 83 Babies

This is our interns first visit at In Step! Also Sean holding baby Sean and Meridith holding baby Meridith.

Tuesday's are always a great day!!

Shimo II

Last year the interns started a program with young mother's in the Shimo Slums near our compound. They taught them to make cards which we took to the United States and Canada and sold. We were able to pay them for the cards. A year later these girls are learning to become seamstress and are very successful. They have said we gave them hope.

We decided to repeat this program and Shimo II was born last Friday. Ten girls arrived at our compound, some with their babies, and we taught them how to make bracelets. Next week we will teach them how to crochet and they will be making small coin purses out of recycled garbage bags from the local dump. We are so excited to start this new project and make a difference in these girls lives!

Cooking Lessons

The interns got their first cooking lesson. Once a week Caroline, one of our Shimo girls from last year, comes to the house and teaches the girls to cook traditional Kenyan food. This week they learned how to make Chapati, Matoki and Cabbage. It is always fun to have Caroline in the house and it was especially fun to have her and all the interns together, laughter, singing and dancing in the kitchen. I can't wait to see what she will teach them next week.

WASH DAY

The interns are required to do their laundry for one month as part of the internship program. Our housekeeper, Lillian gave them their first lesson. At first some of them thought that it was fun. A week later they decided they would wear their clothes more than once now.


ROBIN ELLIE

REBEKAH KARA


CHRISY SAPRINA

the new Interns

The interns are arriving this week. Six wonderful women who have decided to fulfill their dreams of living in Africa for three months, serving, learning and growing. I am so excited I can’t wait to lay eyes on each of them, to get to know them, their dreams and their hopes for the future. Sean, Meridith, Daniel and I will all go to Nairobi to meet each of them as they get off the airplane. What a thrill for them and for us as we get to be part of their lives for the next few months. We will forever be bonded and will never forget the time we had together in a strange new land.

Some of the tasks the interns will have is learning to live in community with one another and the TI staff. This will probably be the hardest and most valuable task they will take on. They will be encouraged to work with children, young mothers, widows, babies and other missionaries. They will get to come along Transformed International and other ministries in the area. And they will make many new friends.

I think for me, being the mother of three boys, the thrill of sharing life with these young women for three months is what I am most excited about. (Like my summer camp dream, my dream for having girls may change!!!) A house full of silly girl stuff, giggles, hair, nails and tears is so exciting for me. All the things that are important to women that my sons will never understand. That is what I look forward to!! Daniel and Sean will be outnumbered this year! Poor Guys will need to have some man nights amidst all of the girl talk.

I hope that you will get to know Saprina, Kara, Ellie, Chrisy, Robin and Rebekha with me the next three months. I hope to share the thrill of this adventure as they begin their Africa dream

Because it is Vacation

Vacation – Holiday as the Europeans Say

Between the groups that came for the summer and the interns coming in September Daniel and I had the blessing of meeting Larry for a 12 day Mediterranean cruise. Larry decided not to come to Kenya this year but gave his blessing for me to go to Africa for almost 6 months this year. I was so homesick this summer it was painful!! I missed Larry so much I cried and questioned my decision to help in Africa. For those of you who know me well, you know I am always scheming for the next adventure. (not that living in Africa isn’t enough of an adventure, I have to add an adventure within the adventure). I figured Larry could meet us half way.

I have been wanting to go to Italy for a few years and wasn’t sure how I would get Larry to go. For some reason it did not hold his interest. The mention of the cruise and meeting Daniel and I was enough. Thus my scheming materialized.

I learned a lot on this trip about Europeans:

- They have great body image. Everyone proudly wears a bikini or Speedo. Size and age don’t matter.

- You can tell a lot about a country by their bathrooms. In Italy we had to pay $2.00 to us it.

- Their public transportation is wonderful.

- Any male under 30 in Italy looks like they could be my son.

- They all know English. Everywhere we went some one could help us in English. I am so amazed and impressed. I guess Americans only need to know English because we can travel the world and everyone has learned our language.

- They are proud of who they are, their history and their countries.

- They know a lot more about American history and politics than many Americans.

- The ship had a special section in the restaurant call the “British Corner”. I found the British like cheese, cold cuts, hard boiled eggs and beans for breakfast.

- That if I watched BBC instead of CNN news there was a bigger world of news than what goes on in just America.

- Turkey doesn’t have air conditioning in their airport.

- The British love to travel as much as the Americans do.

- Italians talk really loud! Not just the Lipparelli family!

- The Tower in Pisa is really leaning but so are a lot of other buildings in Italy.

- Venice may be the most beautiful City in the world.

The trip was wonderful. It was good to be with Larry for two weeks and was hard to say good bye at the airport today. It was odd to leave from a vacation and not go “home”. Daniel and I are almost to Nairobi. We have four days back in Kitale before we return to Nairobi to pick up the interns and start the next adventure.

The end of Camp! and the dream!!

As I stated at the beginning of the summer I have always wanted to run a summer camp. This summer I got to fulfill that dream, of sorts. We had teams come to Kenya to build an orphanage. Every two weeks groups would switch out, one arriving at noon and one leaving at 3:00. At the end of the summer I asked myself why I ever wanted to run a summer camp!!!!! Up before sunrise to make breakfast six days a week. During the day my job was to make sure everything got done in time for the group to return for dinner, sometimes cooking the dinner myself. Being available to answer questions, show how the shower worked and to release campers stuck in the bathroom before Daniel fixed the door. Helping hang the abundance of laundry that was hand washed daily, taking it down before it rained, putting it back up the next morning in hopes it would get dry that day. And than making new and wonderful friends to have them leave me in two weeks time. Most I will never see again.

I don’t want to run a summer camp anymore. I had no idea how much work was involved. NO IDEA!!! I had no idea how hard it would be to say good bye to so many people. My dream has been fulfilled!!