Go Sponsor a Child!

JAMBO! We spent the past week on the East coast of Kenya. Our plans had to be delayed slightly, when the night before we were supposed to leave, we both woke up at the same time in the middle of the night to start puking! We got a bad case of food poisening, which resulted in me having to get a needle jabbed in my thigh (Cole's illness mysteriously disappeared when he thought about having to have a shot!) :0)

We travelled first to Watamu, where we spent a few nights at a Christian conservation community called A Rocha, which is right on the beach. It was a cool community where everyone (staff, volunteers and visitors) shares meals together and also contributes to washing dishes and cleaning up together. We met some fun people and also some HUGE spiders! The picture above is of a sunrise on the beach that we woke up to see. It was beautiful. We sat in the quiet of the morning, with only the crabs and the birds awake to keep us company, and read Psalm 19 as the sun came up.

While staying at A Rocha, we were able to visit a Christian-based organization that a friend from college, Andy Bauer, has been a part. Andy's sister began Kupenda (Swahili for "to love") for the Children to help meet the needs of disabled children in Kenya. Through this organization, many children have been given sponsors so that they can attend special schools that meet their needs. Kupenda pays for the school and boarding fees of these children, constructs special needs facilities, staffs qualified teachers and therapists, provides school supplies and medical equipment (wheelchairs, artificicial limbs, etc), funds corrective surgery, and educates communities (and parents) on the value of disabled children. . It was beautiful for us to see what one woman with a heart for disabled children has been able to accomplish. We went to visit the school where the majority of the sponsored children go and had the chance to meet some of these beautiful children. I think that the coolest thing was to see how much of a family they are. The deaf children were helping to push around the physically handicapped ones in their chairs, while the physically handicapped children have learned sign language so that they can communicate with their deaf classmates. What a beautiful picture of unity!

We were also able to talk with some teachers and the principal about the needs of this particular school. While Kupenda has accomplished much in order to give these children a hope and a future, there is still much to be done. Right now, there are limited classrooms, so that three grades have to meet in the same room to learn. The director of Kupenda in Kenya told me that while sponsors are always needed, even more important is money for building so that there will be enough classrooms and dorms to accomodate the children. Would you consider looking at the Kupenda website and seeing how you can get involved? Any little bit helps. We saw a partly constructed classroom that needs more money in order to be completed. And it only costs about $150 a year to sponsor one of these children to go to school for an entire year. I've attached the website as a link at the bottom of our home page... check it out!


After leaving Watamu, we travelled for a few days to Lamu, which is an island that is a very strict Muslim community. We happened to be there over the weekend of their cultural festival, so there was a lot going on... boat races, swimming races, donkey races, traditional dances, etc. You can walk between different parts of the island, but only during low tide, otherwise you have to catch a ride on a boat. We had fun walking around and exploring all the narrow (and confusing) alleyways of this unique community, and it really did feel like a different world. Being in such a strictly Muslim community was strange... we were awoken early each morning by the call to prayer, and everywhere we went we were surrounded by the women in their full coverings. It sparked some good conversations between us about how we are to be a light and a blessing in such communities. And what we can learn from seeing the devotion of a people.

Our favorite day in Lamu, we took a dhow trip. This was a small sailboat that took us out for the day for some good old fashioned fishing. We had no poles... just fishing line wrapped around a small piece of wood, so when you caught a fish you just had to quickly pull in the line with your hands (and get some major line burns on your hands in the process!) Cole caught one fish, then got seasick. :0( I then caught three more, and our captains caught about 6. We then stopped at a neighboring island for a few hours, to swim and to bar-b-que our catch on the beach. It was delicious!

We are leaving Kenya in 4 days, and will be heading on to Israel! We'll post again when we can!