Nairobi Day 3 - Monday (At the School)

I am sitting in my bed, in a hostel in Nairobi, under my Mosquito net. In the dark…trying to figure out how to put words to this day.  As our trip continues, I find that each day shows me glimpses of God that I have never known.  As non-manly as this sounds, I cried at least twice today (once was a slight knot in the throat and a bit teary, if that increases the man factor at all).  Today was all about the kids.  We started our day at 9:00 am when Martin (our driver) picked us up from the hostel and took us to Great Commission Academy to tour the school and to see the land that we (VWS) purchased last year. 

We were able to go into the classrooms with every grade from the “baby class” as they call it all the way up to the 6^th grade class.  The school currently enrolls about 160 students.  As we went into the classrooms, I was overwhelmed by these children, the things they knew, their joy for learning, their pride in their accomplishments, and quite frankly the Spirit of God living in them.

In the baby class, the teacher was showing pictures of cookware and utensils on a poorly constructed chalkboard and having the student state what each shape was.   When they did well, the whole class sang a song and celebrated their accomplishent.  As one little girl got to the shape of a knife, Ryan clearly couldn’t stand the anticipation, so he shouted out in a loud, “KNIFE”  to which the teacher looked at him and told him to “let the student answer.”  Haaaa….busted! 

After the class visits with each grade level, we were given a tour.  The classrooms were overcrowded and in very poor condition.  Most of them get very hot when its hot and cold when its cold due to the fact that they are made out of wood and tin.  We also got to see the bathrooms that we paid for sitting there still needing a roof and interior finishing.  They were still inoperable so that they school of 160 students is still using 2 toilets.

Two very sweet ladies cooked the food and drinks for “tea time” and the kids came in one by one and took their food back to their classrooms.

After seeing the needs for expanded space, insulated classrooms, toilet constructions completion, painting, a scholarship program for kids who can’t pay school fees, and a place for the teachers to have a break once in a while (they work very hard with these kids and they love them deeply),  I was overwhelmed and knew that this could be fixed easily.

We were then wisked away to the church “auditorium” really an open air assembly area where each grade performed a song from their music class for us as their “special guests.”  We heard songs about how much Jesus loves them and who they are in Jesus.  We also heard songs that were used to teach them about HIV/AIDS and a song entitled “Diseases.”  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but it makes sense when you stop and remember that many of these children have lost their parents to AIDS…many of them recently.

The day ended with a meal amongst Pastor Peter, Pastor Jo-el, Martin, Ryan, Ric and myself.  We sat and dreamed about the “City on a Hill” that God is building through GCF and VWS.  We talked about what they needed, what we needed, and how with each others help, we would be a light to the world through our ministries. 

I LOVE THIS PLACE…AND I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!  It is really as simple as that.  God is here!

Tomorrow, we interview the staff, conduct a water outreach in the heart of the community that surrounds the school, and hang out with families in the neighborhood.  Man…can it get any better than this? 

I am such a rich man who can see more clearly each day what the “Kingdom of God” looks like.