friday, friday, gotta get down on friday

Friday was one of the most eventful days here at Fiwagoh. First off, it was the Day of the African Child. The Day of the African Child is for orphan awareness basically. All of the nearby orphanages in the town of Gilgil all met up to celebrate orphans and to raise awareness on how to lessen the number of orphans not only in Gilgil, but everywhere. So, this is how the day went:

First, we woke up earlier than usual for all the kids to look nice in their school uniforms, and then we had worship. Like usual, after worship we worked in the clinic, then ate breakfast. The clinic is becoming very popular because we are in there twice a day. But, it is so awesome to see the results of the little medical care we can give. But, anyways, we planned to head towards Gilgil by 7 a.m. But, we didn’t start leaving until 8:45 a.m. That’s African time for you. Everyone from all the orphanages was supposed to get to Gilgil by 9 a.m. and Gilgil is 5 miles away, so obviously we were late.

Since Caitlin, Meredith, and I are mzungus (Swahili for white people) and technically visitors, we didn’t have to walk all the way there and back. We got a ride with the juniors (little kids) that couldn’t walk that far. But, everyone else either walked (or ran) there. Caitlin and I were part of the first group of people to be driven, (there was a total of 3 trips for the juniors alone). When we got to Gilgil, we were left with 35 kids in the middle of an African town to wait 20 minutes for more juniors to get there (and a solid 45 minutes for the walkers/runners). We literally saw a woman carrying a chicken by the neck and stray goats and dogs. We made sure to watch our backpacks because there were so many people everywhere we looked. I was counting every 30 seconds making sure we didn’t lose a little one, but thankfully we all made it there and back safely.

When everyone else got to us (an hour late), we lined up in the line with 13 other orphanages to march to the GTI in Gilgil. We were the largest orphanage with a whopping 208 kids, 2 supervisors of the orphanage, and 3 mzungus. The only other two white people we saw were with a different orphanage. So, it was 5 mzungus to 1,200 African orphans.

Once at the GTI, each orphanage had the opportunity to share a little something for everyone else. Fiwagoh kids sang a hymn and recited some Bible verses. Others danced and some recited poems about orphans. Overall, it was just a celebration of African orphan children. It was soooo much fun and I loved every second of it! I would go into more detail, but this blog is getting long already.

Another thing that made Friday eventful was worship. That night I had the lovely opportunity to speak and share a lesson. If you know me, you know it is very difficult for me to speak in front of lots of people, especially 212 people. So. Many. Eyes. My lesson was short and sweet, but everyone was really tired, so I was thanked by many for the short lesson. Just like every other time I speak, I planned for it to be longer and better, but I was stuck with a short lesson of jumbled words and lots of “like”s. Before I spoke, I was flipping out knowing that if I messed up, it would be in front of A LOT of people. But, after it was all said and done, a few of the older kids came up to me and thanked me for sharing. Also, they said that was exactly what they needed to hear. I’m glad they liked it because it took me 2 hours and 3 brains to come up with it. I’m happy I got to share, but if I never teach a lesson again, I’ll be just fine.

Friday was also the halfway day of this journey. It’s crazy to think that we’ve already been here 2 weeks and in exactly two short weeks from that day we’ll be making a trek not to Gilgil, but to the U.S. If I could stay here forever, I think I would because these kids make my heart SO happy. They are respectful, loving, and crazy kiddos. Each person in this orphanage has a special place in my heart and a piece of it, too. Friday, just like every other day here, has not only left an imprint on my brain, but also it has left an imprint on my heart.