Day 7--Wednesday
Sorry, folks!  We are actually home now, so I must catch you all up on the happenings of the past few days.

Wednesday was bittersweet as we started out the day with the knowledge that it would be our last day in the village.  But......this was meant to be the GREATEST of days.  Each of us were forging lifetime relationships with the people of Kiria.  Of course, this is a simple thing to do when you are spending time with such loving people.  We did start out with some bad news.  You just never know what you might face in this area.  Overnight, there was a break in at the school.  Apparently the robbers did not find what they were looking for but they beat the night watchman badly and left him for dead.  Muchai, our trip leader, thought that perhaps the robbers were looking for the chain link fencing that was being used to set up a parameter around the school property.  They did not find the chain link but took some of the children's school books as a measure of defiance.  The night watchman was taken to the hospital.  He is is going to recover but it will be some time.  This did put a damper on the enthusiasm for the morning.  But our team is so wonderful, we were all determined to have this be a fabulous day to spite the news.

Upon arriving at the primary school, we split up into two teams.

Some working on the manual labor of the fencing and others spending time with the nursery school.  We brought projects, crayons, coloring sheets, and all sorts of items to help with time with the children.  It is amazing to watch these 5 year olds color one sheet.  They are so meticulous at coloring in each area.  Some of these kids are quite artistic, quite talented, so intense!  More than anything else, I was impressed with how well behaved the children are, to be so young.  Whenever the teacher would speak, the children would respond respectfully.  It is truly a joy to watch the interaction and know that these kids really want to be in school.  These kids really appreciate what school can do for them.  Their teacher is a young woman who really enjoys the children.  It is evident that she is right where she wants to be.

After time with the little ones in the classroom, we went out to the field to spend time with ALL the kids.  The soccer balls, bubbles, jump ropes, etc all came out.  A fun time was to be had by all.  You should have seen the tug of war games.  It was amazing.  And.... a 50 cent bottle of bubbles provides hours of fun for these kids even up to the teenagers.  Speaking of teenagers, we split up and took some time with the teenagers.  Our male team members went with the boys and our female team members went with the girls.  In this type of culture, things about growing up are not discussed so we wanted to allow time with this age group for questions or discussions, if they felt free to share.  The girls are very reserved but our team was able to spend time with them and encourage them to stay in school, work hard, and love God.  They even shared some memorized scriptures with us.  The boys had a wonderful time.  After their discussion, Dave shared a little martial arts with them but had to teach them about not hitting/kicking for fun.  It was hilarious to see Dave with the boys. They were doing an exercise where Dave had them repeat "I will not hit, I will not kick",  Then, pandemonium broke out as all the boys started play hitting and kicking each other.  You had to be there.

We took a short lunch break prior to spending time with the adults.  The men played checkers and the women came one by one to have their nails polished by our team members.  This was soooooooo much fun.
These women really enjoyed spending a little time just being women, feeling pretty and pampered.  It is amazing how much personality comes out when women just get together to be girls.  Some of these women are quite spunky and fun.....playful!  Man oh man do these people love to have their picture taken.  Wish you could just hear their accents saying 'take one pikcha, please'.  I have no clue as to who had more fun, the women of Kiria or us.

As the afternoon went on, we realized it was time to wind down.  The leadership counsel wanted to have an assembly in the school courtyard to say farewell.  All the children and adults gathered around for the assembly.  Patrick, our driver, had allowed us to have a full day (our only full day) in the village.  He was determined, no matter what the weather, for us to be able to stay.  Patrick was wonderful in getting where we needed to go safely all week but he wasn't about to let the weather keep us from having a full last day.
During the assembly, we were able to show our appreciation of the hospitality of this village in word but some of us were very emotional.  It is difficult to leave a people that have welcomed you with open arms and open hearts.  But, we were all happy.  Just happy to be blessed to have this time.  Happy to develop these relationships.  Happy to learn of another culture that is so blessed and so close to God.  To have so little, but so much.  The lessons learned are impossible to describe.  I will forever be grateful to God for this experience.  My prayer is to be able to someday return to my new friends in Kiria.

We returned to Lake Naivasha for our last night there with only minor difficulty due to the roads.  PATRICK IS THE MAN!!!  Debrief included a talk by David from Brightpoint for Children an organization where you can sponsor a child in Kiria.  Look it up! https://www.brightpointforchildren.org/index.php  This is a fabulous way to help the children of Kiria from a distance.