Happy days

These last few days have been particularly good for me. One thing that made me happy on Friday was the students’ devotion time. They have morning devotion everyday, but on Friday nights they have a devotion for just the students and maybe the chaplain with no teachers. I have never gone before, but decided to this Friday. For the first time, I saw some actual passion behind their singing! It was so great to be a part of, as they sang Swahili choruses with their whole bodies, and their loudest voices. Then there was a time when students do some of their own “performances” and share a song or a thought or something. Keep in mind, these are highschool students and first of all they are all there without any force, and on top of that they choose to get up in front of everyone and sing or something. Including boys! This boggles my mind, having worked with highschoolers plenty and knowing what it takes to get them to all show up somewhere. Anyway, then the Chaplain spoke to them about more real issues, not just Bible verses or whatever. This week he talked about sexual purity and it was so funny because he asked them all what is the best gift a wife can give her husband-and he asked if anyone would be bold enough to say it. (he was looking for the answer to be her virginity) There were hushed whispers amidst a little giggling and then someone finally spoke up and blurted out “Twins?” I thought that was so funny and everyone just burst into laughter. It was so funny. Anyway…time with those students really bless my heart.
Yesterday Joan (the special school teacher I work the most with, she is right out of college and 24), Jennifer (my roommate), and I decided to go to Kabarnet to visit Kabarnet Deafblind School, which I just recently heard about and really wanted to go see. So we started walking instead of just waiting for a matatu to come. Anyway, since it was a Saturday only two ended up passing by and they were packed full, so we ended up walking the entire way! That is over two hours…but it was nice! You can see so much more of the views and the houses when you walk, instead of zipping by in a too-fast matatu. (ps…yesterday I was in one that held 21 people! It is supposed to fit like 13 or something) Well when we got there it was the most wonderful thing I could have experienced. There was one teacher on duty, and so she showed us around the compound and told us about each of the children. Basically, this is a place that is the only one like it and kids come from all over, even from neighboring countries. The kids range in age from 6 to about 20 and have a variety of things. Almost all are either deaf or blind or both, in addition to mental disabilities and some physical. These are the kids that are really abandoned. Most of them live at the school year round because their parents won’t take them back. The school actually goes out and looks for the kids, and sometimes just pulls them from their homes because they are hidden away. They really need one on one attention, and here they receive it as there are 26 students and 24 teachers. They also have a therapist that has gotten two children walking who came and weren’t able too. The school as vocational programs for the older students, so they can learn trades like farming or sewing or carpentry. Some of the students that have graduated actually work at the school now. They have about 12 housemothers who rotate in taking care of the kids in the evening. It is funded by the government and partnered by a group in Germany who helps to provide more staff as well as funds for eye surgeries or glasses, etc. Many students became deaf or mentally handicapped from Meningitis, and many have heart issues from Rubella. So it is such a wide range of needs, and a lot of kids just get sent there because of the severity of their needs. One kid was there unable to walk and talk, simply because he has been neglected since in was so young. The students were out in their play yard, and I wanted to touch each one of them and I did. There were some students who would just rock in place and hit themselves or the things around them, others that were just laying around, one girl just sat and was crying! I guess she cries all the time and fights a lot. So this gives you a picture of the mental disabilities. One girl that was seated at the ended of the a slide who was blind I crouched down to say hello and she began to feel me to see who I was. I lifted her hands to my face and hair and the she put her hands on my cheeks and kissed my mouth and then just started blowing in my face; I naturally did it right back to her. The students that were blind would feel my face and my chest to see if I was a man or a woman, and then smell my clothes and arms to see if they knew me already. It was just so precious and I teared up because these are those who my heart breaks for. It was so cool for me to hear about the school and everything they are doing for these children. It is one of a kind and so so wonderful. The children can actually be so happy there. I was warmly invited back, and I am going to visit again this week to see them in a school day and talk to the therapist.
So those things make me happy! Oh, then while I was still in town I went to a salon to buy little bands so some of the students can braid my hair. I so much wanted to stay in there and try on those awesome extensions and hairpieces. If only they made them in blonde…