Incredible...

Here's a quote one of my teammates shared last night and it sums up so much of what it's like to be here. It's from a book called "Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle" by Kent Annon.

"There's something about the desperation of life here that resonates with how desperate life itself really, actually, is. On the surface, an American suburb is a place where life is orderly, manicured, manageable. Here, the surface is raw and needy and clawing. There is some reassurance in living where the exterior life, with all its ragged desperation - and glimpes of beauty and faith and sontaneous dancing - resonates more with the interior experiences of being human."

I just love it when someone puts into words how I'm feeling. whew.

Well, we are all back together now as a group in Nairobi and have been doing different things each day. Yesterday was a learning/praying day for the world of Hinduism as we visited two different temples. Today we went and had a work down in Mathare Valley slum, painting, tickling kids, pouring concrete, just awesome.

It really made me miss my little group of orphans back in Port Victoria and just in the last couple of days the reality of their lives have hit me so strongly.

They are ages 2-6...

Little hands and feet, impressionible minds, vulnerable...

and they're orphans.

Whew.


There's a song that keeps running thru my brain with the first line of "The orphan clings to Your hand." Oh man, it's so true. These children are desperate. They hold tight to the hand of God because there's no one else to care for them.

There's also a line in the chorus that goes, "YOu could just stay silent and leave us here to die." The line is meant to be from the perspective of humans to God, but I've been hearing the voices of my orphans saying it to me.

I can't stay silent, I've got to be an advocate for them.

I think I've found a new hobby. :)