Today we spent the day actually getting to work. I kind of forgot we were going to work while we are here as the last couple of days we got to just be with kids and each other and God.
Our projects include painting the boys’ dorm so the boys can move in before we leave on Saturday; fixing the playground equipment that has been well used since our team put it in November of 2009; building some new desks, tables and storage boxes; putting up hooks for school packs; and getting the new kitchen ready to be used. We got a good start on each project even though our power tools arrived late and then the power went out! We got a good lesson in Kenyan time as we tried to get lumber and other parts needed for the projects. I was assigned to help with playground repair so we began the work of putting new bars on the monkey bars; new teeters on the teeter totters; fixing the climbing wall and swings; and building a new sand box from the old teeter totter boards.
It was a bit strange being at HOREC without many kids around (the pre-schoolers were there in the one room school house that has been build next to the boys’ dorm and it includes kids at HOREC and few from the community.) The highlight was hearing Christine share her story that really is a calling to love kids that her country has labeled unworthy of love. We finished work up an hour early so she could share with us and as she finished Carol arrived!
Carol is 11 and has been at HOREC for three years. She came to HOREC just a few months before our last team came in November of 2009. C.J. was on that team as well and she remembers placing Carol on the swing and having to hold her up because she was so weak she could not hold herself on the swing. Carol has been at the hospital the last two weeks recovering from TB which is a result of being HIV positive. But she arrived home today at HOREC and her smile was contagious. It was especially fun when she pulled back her pink hoodie of her head to display a cute set of curls (all of the kids have shaved heads, including the girls, for hygiene reasons.) This was first head of hair we had seen and it was beautiful. The best part was watch Carol and C.J. head to the swings and seeing Carol being able to swing on her own! Oh the joy in the little things in life. Here is a little girl the doctors said would not live so why bother treating her, and now she is running and playing. It was a real life resurrection being lived out before our eyes. I found myself being grateful that God is good and people like Christine are willing to listen to God’s call and serve so faithfully as instruments of His grace and love.
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