Love and Affection

Eastleigh Community Centre

Today was the first day for Brianna to travel into Eastleigh with us, where they will be volunteering for the next two weeks with the Iftin Women's Empowerment Program at the Eastleigh Community Centre. Along with teaching in the English literacy project, they will be volunteering with the children's program in the kindergarten. Today the girls were greeted with hugs and high fives as the kids circled them with love and affection.

The children within the three pre-school classes are from the communities of Eastleigh and Mathare Valley. Although the children live in an impoverished part of the city, they are very energetic and happy kids. During their recess breaks, the sound of laughter and play is wonderful.

Today, as we were leaving the kindergarten section of the community centre, we were blessed by the sights of kids drawing in the sand; chasing after old tires; helping friends catch a bug; running and holding hands; and even one little boy trying to braid a little girl's hair.

You could not help but be struck by the images of both gentleness and playfulness.

Later in the day, on our way out of the community centre, I noticed another young girl comforting a friend with tears in her eyes. I have no idea the story behind those tears, but the tenderness and compassion of the little girl's friend was a beautiful thing to witness.

There are some universal gifts that God has put into the hearts of his children. We pray that where ever you are today, that you may have eyes to see the simple signs of the master's hand at work in the life of another.

Kora

Little girls playing the game kora

during their school lunch break

at the Eastleigh Community Centre

The rain has been a blessing in Eastleigh over the past few weeks. Most of Kenya has finally received some rain fall after a dismally short spring rain. We pray that these rains will last and refill the reservoirs and dwindling water table. Throughout Nairobi, we have been on strict water rationing (only receiving water once a week) and many of the city's bore holes have simply run out of water. The recent rains have had a miraculous affect on the grass and plants around us. Seeds that we planted over a month ago have actually come up through the ground over the past few days. The rains have also produced a tangible sense of hope in people, you can see the relief on people's faces.

One of the places that we talk about the importance of rain and water is with the children of the Eastleigh Community Centre. Each day about 320 primary students and about 90 preschool children learn, live and play together within the safety of the community centre.

"Everything is better with the rain," commented one little girl. "I don't like the dust, it bites my eyes." The girls are sitting on a cement walkway gathering stones and bits of broken pottery into circles for a game of Kora. They take turns throwing and catching the rocks as we talk about the weather and the importance of water. "I don't like it when it doesn't rain. Everything is sad." agreed another girl. For most of these children, no rain has meant that there is no water to bath, wash their clothing, and at times even cook their meals. Without access to city water, most families living in slums like Eastleigh and Mathare have had to resort to buying buckets of water often at prices five times that of what we would pay in North America. And the water they are drinking is often of poor quality. In response to my question about how they filter or clean their drinking water, one of the elder girls answered "Sometimes we boil our water or filter it. But you can't do that when you need it right away."

Every Thursday, many of these children take part in a refugee children's program called "The Happy Club". We started the club with two volunteer leaders from the Iftin literacy program. Along with games, songs, and dancing (the kid's three favorite activities) they are able to talk and learn more about issues of heath and wellness. We pray that as these children learn more about the dangers of unclean drinking water, that they will be agents of change in their homes as they put into practice many of the simple behaviours that can protect them and their families from water born diseases.

Despite the bravado of the little boys the girls insist that they are much better at the game!

Welcoming

A warm welcome to some of the newest students at the Eastleigh Community Centre

It was a joy today to be able to welcome some of the 78 new students who are joining the primary school within the Eastleigh Community Centre. Over the past two months, we have been working together with the community centre's "Child Empowerment Initiative" to identify and sponsor a hundred refugee children to attend primary school. Thanks to the generous support of churches and individuals through The Sharing Way, each of these students were also provided school uniforms and their families are being welcomed to participate in self help initiatives. Thirty-two of their mothers, aunties and older sisters were also welcomed this morning into the Iftin literacy classes where they wrote placement examinations.

Tunis, Zahra Shariff, and Aaron meeting about the kids club

With the addition of so many new refugee kids into the community centre, we are working with two of our Iftin members, Tunis and Zahra Shariff, to organize a weekly children's club for the new Somali kids to play games, build friendships, experiment with art and have a safe place to talk openly and work through the traumatic experiences that most have come through. Both Tunis and Zahra Shariff have experienced the difficult transition that each of these kids are going through and they have thrived with wonderful attitudes of joy, hope, and forgiveness. We are excited to work together to serve these children by creating a place of grace and peace.

Some of the girls proudly showing off their new uniforms. This is the first time for most of these children to have ever gone to school -- it was a BIG day!