Time for some catching up! Let’s see if I can get a few days into on blog! Monday morning started out with Welcome Home. Right now I am still undecided about how involved I am going to be there. I am still interested in going out with their outreach team to the villages, and spending some time with the children there, but I am really going to have to pray about how involved I become. After Welcome Home I took my boda driver to an internet café to help him learn how to check his email. (I guess awhile ago some mzungu’s that he drove around made him an email address but he never knew how to check it.) After some trying we realized that the internet was not working for us today, so we would try again another time. Around this time I met Henry at Indulge.
We had a meeting with Hassen, one of the boys that we had seen numerous times on the street, and we were going to discuss with him how we could help, and whether or not he wanted help. When he arrived I took him inside and he chose for himself chocolate cake and orange soda….yum..? We talked about his past, where he came from, etc. Henry was very upfront with him, and if he answered in a way that didn’t make sense to something he said previously, he was questioned. At the end of our discussion we invited him and David (the other boy that we had met with) to come to the Sanctuary for supper the next night so that they could meet the other boys, and come have an idea about what we do, etc.
For the next while Henry and I discussed what it would mean for us if we invited more boys into the house. For now we have decided that we are going to spend some time with them, get to know them and see what the other boys think of them. Please pray about this! That we will know what is right.
The whole day it was drizzling off and on. Henry and I were waiting out the harder rain still at Indulge when all of a sudden we heard a huge crash. A man on a boda (motorcycle) carrying a huge bag of sweet potatoes went flying across the road and a car came to a halt. It was awful. Before a crowd could surround the situation I saw the man (now laying on the road up against a curb) move his hand, so I pray that he is ok. Even now we are still unsure of who was at fault, there were so many people around and everyone had their own story. The man in the car immediately went off to the police to file a report, while a huge crowd surrounded the man. I didn’t even see it, but Henry told me that at some point another vehicle took the injured man away, but the crowd still remained. I guess we will never know how this situation will turn out, but it was a sickening thing to be witness of. I pray that the man is ok.
That night I had a great time with Siouxanne and Emily, the females that I am living with. Siouxanne made some delicious Indian food and we even had chocolate pudding (from scratch I might add) for dessert! Yum!! We spent the evening chatting and listening to music. It was quite lovely!
Now yesterday.. This was one of the most busy/draining days that I have had so far, but not in a bad way. First off I took my boda driver to the internet to try again to teach him how to check his email. This time the internet worked J Now, I don’t actually know if I can explain to you what it was like to try to teach him, let’s just say that it was a very long process. First up, how to use a mouse, then finding internet explorer, where to type www.hotmail.com, etc, BUT, we made it into his account! Woot! After this I showed him where he could compose a message. He then proceeded to pull out of his pocket a hand written letter that he wanted to send to these people who had set up the account for him. He proceeded to very painfully find each letter and type it up. After about 40 minutes, and he was on line 3 I offered to help him finish because I needed to leave. He did a great job though! And hopefully if he continues to practice, he will become even faster. In today’s day in age you almost forget that there are people out there who can’t type or work a mouse.
Anyways, after this Henry and I had the first of 4 different meetings that we had booked for the day. 3 out of 4 meetings involved people who worked with or were part of helping kids who have come off of the streets. While it was encouraging and beneficial to talk to all of these people and to learn valuable insight, it was definitely information overload. By the end of the meetings my brain was fried…and then we got to go to the boys house so that we could be there for David and Hassen’s first dinner! Oh, I forgot to mention that we also realized that morning that it was one of our boys birthdays!! So in between all of this we had to track down a birthday cake and a card..which for the card you wouldn’t think that would be a challenge..but it was! Lol. (On a side note, I should mention how important cards are here..they are big and shiney and flashy and are apparently a big deal to get! The big thing right now are “Success on Exams” cards…which if you buy you have delivered to their school so that they receive them there. Henry and I bought one for each of the boys graduating this year : Steven, Jacob (from p7) and Alex from Highschool. Exciting!)
So ya, that night we not only had the boys over for their introductory dinner, but we also had Ronnie’s birthday! When we got to the house the boys were on the front lawn playing cards. I set down to play with them, and as other boys began to come home from school and come out and play football, the boys would go and play with them, and then come back to the cards, and then go back to play with the boys and then back to the cards. All and all the night was a success. I think it was hard for the new boys to feel a part of the group, but they seemed to be ok, and it was fun that they got to be there for the birthday. After eating dinner we took out the cake and Henry had a great idea of getting everyone to go around and say what they liked/appreciated about Ronnie. It was fun to hear different things that the boys had to say! 
Ronnie is one of the newest boys to be added to the Sanctuary, so I think it meant a lot to him to hear what the boys had to say.
Oh, another big moment happened tonite…wait for it…I ate…small….FISH!!! And yep, it tasted as bad as it sounds. Ok, maybe not AS bad…but I just could not wrap my mind around eating it….i mean there were fish heads starring up at me every bite I took! Lol. Needless to say, I can check that off of my list of things I want to do while I am here! :)
And that was yesterday….it was a day full of gathering knowledge, celebrating the boys, and meeting with new friends. All in all and successful (and yes tiring) day!
Praise:
- The potential to invest into more boys
- Successful meetings with people working with other boys
- I survived eating small fish ;)
Prayer
- For David and Hassen as they begin to spend more time at the Sanctuary
- The boys already at the sanctuary (school, new friends, etc)
- Henry’s computer (it has been in the shop for 2 weeks, and we are worried that he will loose EVERYTHING he had on there)
- I will continue to lean on God, and trust Him and follow his direction as we move forward
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