Saturday in Kibera

We haven’t had access to the internet, so we’re playing catch up a bit (on Monday).  On Saturday we got to join in the weekly children’s program in Kibera, which is an outreach of Homecare Fellowship and the group from whom the children and teens were chosen to attend camp.  The meeting room at the Salvation Army Church was already packed out when we arrived, but that didn’t stop at least a hundred more children from coming!  Just imagine the sound of more than 300 children packed into one not-so-large room, singing their hearts out to the Lord!  The team shared a lesson on David and Goliath; the children had a snack of “porridge,” and then they broke into small groups according to age groups.  Even as we moved outside for the groups, more children came in.  In all, they estimated  at least 350 children, in addition to the Homecare young people who volunteer their time to direct this ministry faithfully every Saturday.  Each Saturday these children have praise and worship, learn from the Bible, and are fed a nutritious lunch, probably their best meal of the week.  It is an amazing ministry to the “OVCs,” orphaned and vulnerable children. Following lunch, the team had a chance to taste some of the cultural diversity of Kenya at the BOMAS cultural center.  A talented group of dancers, drummers and acrobats demonstrate the music and dances of some of the tribes of Kenya.  It’s interesting to see the differences in tribes, as well as the beauty of their native costumes and amazing dancing and rhythms.  After visiting the recreated “village” where local vendors sell their Kenyan handcrafts, we shared our last night as a combined CA and TX team (we’ve adopted our Louisiana couple and dubbed them Texans!).  We have so enjoyed getting to know the talented group from LA, and are so glad they joined us for this week.

We were all looking forward to being at the worship service on Sunday, and thanked God for the wonderful week we had with the children.  We know that lots of seeds were planted, some received more water, and trust that even some “harvesting” took place.  The important thing is that every child got to hear the gospel, experienced the love of Jesus through each team members, and we served hand in hand with our brothers and sisters here in Kenya.  A blessed time indeed!