Day Six Reflections:
At debrief last night and devotion this morning, we circled around team members to pray for health.  We have a couple of colds and some stomach issues that we wanted to lay at the feet of Jesus.  Getting on the road this morning, everyone was filled with faith that this was going to be a great day.  Today was going to be unique and eye opening as we were going into the homes of some of the villagers and to spend time getting to know one another.  The language barrier alone was going to be a challenge but 410Bridge has worked with the leadership counsel to have someone go in with us to these homes to assist.

We got to the village with only minor travel difficulties due to lots of mud but once again, Patrick, proved to be "the man".  First thing, we split up to do some manual labor.  Some slung hoes, some a machete, some dug holes, and some, well, if you consider playing with pre-schoolers manual labor, I just might have to share my machete with you.  During this work our goal was to build relationships with the people we were working alongside.  This is a pretty easy task here as the people of Kiria are friendly and open.  They want to know everything about us so at times, we had to jump in with quesions for them.  They have questions for us about family, home life and work life.  We talked about family and work life and believe it or not the language difference didn't seem like such a large barrier.  While learning to sling a machete to manually clear a field, I learned that the Kenyan village people have many children for very practical reasons.  One of the reasons there are so many children in each family is to assist with the work.  Milking cows, working in the fields, caring for the younger children, grazing sheep, herding cows........In Kenya, girls are a hot commodity for more than just being girls.  You see, when a girl gets married, the young man must present the girl's family with a dowry.  This can be in the form of money, cows, sheep......This is a monetary commitment to the marriage.  Girls bring in a higher dowry depending on the number of 'desirable' qualities they possess, such as dimples which signify beauty, a gap in the front teeth which helps in blowing the kitchen fire to get it started better, and a larger body size which assists in child birth.

After the manual labor for the day, our team divided into the 3 groups again.  Off we went for home visits.  At each home visit, we took supplies to make chiapati (a type of bread much like flat bread that is rolled out and fried in a cast iron skillet over an open fire) and chia tea (made with mild and sugar).  Chiapati is actually a special treat for these families as most can not afford to purchase the flour to create the bread.  Chiapati is generally only served at family gatherings such as holidays.  Each team shared the warm, overwhelming welcome that was received.  The Kenyan people treat you as though you are a cherished relative from afar.  Therefore, we all felt at ease as we began to develop relationships to spit the language differences.  At the conclusion of our home visit, we walked back to the primary school compound enjoying the local scenery and clean mountain air.

We enjoyed playing the early afternoon away with the school children prior to having to leave due to rain once again moving into the area.  Life here is so simple.  A place where children are happy with a jump rope, an old bicycle tire rim and a stick to push it, a bottle of bubbles, or even just a song........these are the things that we should all be able to appreciate.  Everyone, adults and children alike, love to have their picture taken here.  Only the more affluent can afford a camera but they sure do know what one is for.  The children say "take me one picture???" and then they want to see that picture.  I wish I could relay just how precious each
and every small pleasure is here.  And, how simple that pleasure is.  Oh, to be more content and happy without all the daily stress and clutter that our society acquires through what we call "success".

Short version is that we all had a fabulous day.  Mission team and villagers alike.    It is sad to say that tomorrow will be our last day in the village with all the people we have grown to love in a very short period of time.