Heartwrenching yet Inspirational

March 14, 2012

Today we will wrap up our time in Kisumu and the surrounding area. We have spent three days touring schools and being a part of ceremonies. (The Kenyans are a very ceremonial and orderly people).

On Sunday we spent the day at Ringa Secondary school for girls. Beautiful, smart, dedicated high school girls. It is a residential school so they live there...in their classrooms. No dorm room. Bunks smashed into a concrete room, black paint on the walls serving as chalk boards. Very few books. They are in school from 9am - 7pm. They shave their heads so the girls are not preoccupied with how they look. They are in the process of building a dorm, as the money comes in, the structural walls are about three feet high right now. The girls take their break from classes to go down to the stream and carry 10 gallon pales of water back on their heads to dump into a cistern for the construction crew, and then they head back to class...smiling. No plumbing, no internet or smart boards, no personal space, no personal wardrobe, no jewelry, make-up, or hair care products...and yet they smile. Incredible, amazing, strong young women who dream of a better life.


It was ironic, as I was down by the stream talking with the girls, one of them came up to me very shyly and said, "I have a problem". "What's that?" I asked. "I'm not good at school" she replied. "What do you like to do?" I asked. Her eyes lit up and she said, "I love to dance! And I want to be a beautician when I am done with school." I told her my sister, Rachel was a beautician and she started to dance right there on the spot, she was so excited.


As Director of our Academic Success Center at WLC I spend many hours with students struggling to determine how they are uniquely gifted and how they can develop those gifts. It was fun to have the same conversation with a young woman on another continent...once again reafirming my conviction that people are people no matter where we wander. We have the same hopes, concerns, and needs, and most of us are doing the best we can with what we know.


Oh, how I love to travel - and am so extremely thankful that I have been given the opportunity. Therefore but the grace of God, go I.


I have so much more to share, but I need to wrap it up and load my gear into the truck. Today we are heading to the Maasai Mara - the World's largest migrating spot- for safari. I am told I stand a very good chance of seeing (up close) lions, giraffes, elephants, hippo, zebra, and ...


I'll let you know soon!