Smiles

Absolutely amazing, best work day I've had in a long time. I'm getting
choked up thinking about it. I love it here. I got a little spooked driving out of Jinga today, we traveled into the villages...30 minutes by taxi. Rocky red clay
roads...my body is completely covered in red clay...never mind my ankles after an intense hour of tennis.

It's terrible, I'm smelly, but so worth it!

We showed up in a village and I was a little anxious, very poor, lots of people
just hanging out around fires cooking corn or something.

There was a butcher with meat laid out (flies all over it) on his stoop. I'm sure it was killed this morning, just not sure about sanitation after it was killed or what animal it was.

We showed up at the orphanage and I was a little anxious, it's hard to believe
these kids dont have parents and are living in a village in cement housing (no plumbing, obviously) all have hiv/aids.

After that the couple who started the orphanage took us to their other location....1 hr on rocky clay roads further out of Jinga. This was really something, the roads weren't roads anymore. We showed up to this beautiful farm land...chickens, goats, orphans, a fire, teachers, etc. When we got out of the car, the kids were all singing.

My favorite part...I finished work and gave the director a soccer ball and kick
ball for the organization. I brought 20 kick balls & soccer balls out to give away to the organizations. I know they probably could use food/clothes, etc....but I think it's fun for kids to be kids. The orphans (about 20 of them, ages 4-10) were all smiles, they gave me a traditional thanks, kneeling down and holding my hand. You should have seen their faces, I could see it in their eyes...they'd never seen something so fun looking! We played soccer and random games for about 2 hrs together...the squeals from their mouths were hysterical. I got video of it.

Being with them during that time is something i'll never forget. I was acting like a kid with a bunch of kids who could act like kids for a bit. We're going there again tomorrow to finish up, I cant wait to see them again. I'm going to cry hard when I have to say goodbye to them.

I got lots of great pictures.

Speaking of crying, I've been afraid of crying pity tears and offending people.
I realized today, tears aren't necessary. No tears today. Maybe I welled up a little when the kids were running and squealing and when I said good bye for the night. There's nothing to be sad about here. Although they live in the slums, the org leaders are so excited about what they have/how God has blessed them. It's amazing to see people with so little so content and psyched about what's to come.

Posted by Alex