Week Five- Week of Celebrations!

     Last Saturday the kids decided that it was my birthday, why I have no idea. They said that I will not be here for my birthday so we have to celebrate. Loving birthdays I gladly agreed....until I found out what there birthday tradition is, water poured on your head. Still thinking, hey we are in Africa water on my head is not so bad I continued to go a long with it. When I came out of the room from dinner all the kids were in the lobby area singing, dancing, and playing drums. I was called to the middle where the oldest girl had a cup of water, I was like ok this is not going to be bad at all... She said as you know this is a birthday tradition and poured the little cup of water on my head. Well right after that water was coming from EVERYWHERE! Kids were pouring it from upstairs, huge buckets of water coming from every side. It was hilarious! The water was freezing cold and everyone was laughing. They sang happy birthday to me and we all danced and danced. Beryl, my best friend here, knew exactly what was coming and had taken my camera so everything was filmed. I actually have a video of it all. It was lots of fun, and a birthday I will never forget : ) I guess when you don't have presents and you don't have cake you use water and make it a party : )

     I have had a British lady here with me all of this time. You haven't heard me talk about her because it has been very hard for me to keep positive about her so I decided to keep all opinions to myself even to people that will never meet her. She does not stay in the orphanage but comes everyday to the school to teach. She is a very bitter 67 year old retired teacher from London, yet in her retirement she has taken countless trips to help teach the poor. Once staying as long as a year in Peru. A good heart just a little too vocal for my liking. Anyway, she left to go home on Wednesday and the school put together an assembly for her. Each class got up and sang a song to her, most being a song that she had taught them. They then cut a cake and each child was given a small square of cake. I could not help but giggle to myself as some of the children were singing. The very same children that I cannot get to be quiet at home are the ones standing with their head bowed and barely singing along. Amazing what peer pressure does to a child. And then you had the leaders the children that lead the song, carried the song, and gave the speech at the end. One girl in the second grade even told the kids to sing louder in between verses.

     Last but by no means least Valentines day was also celebrated this week. Or I should say that I celebrated Valentines day this week. My parents, Karen Towe, and Jesse all sent beautiful Valentine cards for me to open making the day as special as possible. Jesse one the prize though with a pop out singing princess card. The kids were absolutely beside themselves to say the least, they thought the card was the most amazing thing ever! Remember back in the day when our ringtones were only tones, no words? That is where Kenya is at today so when a card started singing “Every girl can be a Princess” from Snow White they were impressed. Even the grown men would pass it back and forth opening the card and laughing. One of my kids said, “He must be the richest man in the world to afford a card like that!” Just an example of truly how simple minded and “behind” our culture their world is.

      Now for the reason I was the only one celebrating. I did not know until this trip that Valentines day is an American holiday. Makes sense though, hallmark trying to find a way for people to spend money. Kenya just started celebrating Valentines in 2002 and for a week or so before I heard everyone talking about the evil evil holiday coming up. I just assumed that it was because of the western values being pushed onto their culture. In the paper there were all kinds of advertisements about roses, chocolates, and expensive dinners that Kenyans as a whole do not have the extra money to buy. As true as that is the day is actually considered “evil” by the Christian community because it is said that 1 in 3 Kenyan's celebrate Valentines Day with someone other than their spouse. CRAZY! Here it is viewed as a day to find a Valentine and spend it with someone new. I think in America this is the one day that it is the hardest to cheat because you are expected to be with your spouse. When I think about my life I feel like I grew up in a sex infused culture, more so than my parents but not as much as my friends that live in Miami. Yes, sex is very much in our culture but even so still in the south it is not a topic of discussion. It is something looked at as private and personal. In Kenya sometimes I feel like sex is there culture. And the widely acceptance of this Valentines Day habit proves my point. The divorce rate is sky rocketing in Kenya and I have actually heard a few people say that they feel it is because of America's influence on the world. No, I'm pretty sure it is because unless the man is a solid Christian he is bred from birth that anyone woman in his sight is for his taking. I was reading the paper the other day and there was a short line in an article that said, “A 25 year old woman was arrested yesterday for stabbing her 60 year old husband to death.” The man died yet I still feel more sorry for her than him. If she was apart of curtain tribes she could have been married to him since she was 13! Girls at that age are not ready to be wives, motherhood expected not long after. I have really struggled with putting this in my blog because I know that it is an inappropriate topic for a single young woman to bring up to the world but the Valentines day really topped the cake for me. I have decided not to write all of the wretched things I have discovered about female genital mutilation, but if you would like to discuss it when I get home I will be more than happy to share. Before you ask, the men I am exposed to are very good Christian men who do not take part in any of the cultural practices. I also don't go anywhere after dusk to stay away from danger.

     On a much happier note let me tell you about my kids. They are very much MY kids now, I know there personalities, there struggles, and the things that make them laugh the hardest. I can tell you which child is about to knock on my door simply by there footsteps. I can easily identify them by their giggles even if it is coming from downstairs. They come to me when they need soap or just to show me a good grade on a test. They still look through my photo album almost everyday and yet they somehow still find new questions to ask about the individuals. I have had to explain to them what a lot of things are, like apple juice, they thought for sure it was wine. However now they can sing several Needtobreathe songs. The staff here has been amazed at how observant I am and how well I have been able to connect with the kids. A lot of volunteers that come and stay use it more as a hostel, they are here for a few days and then leave to see some tourist stuff back for a few days and so on. I have used every single ounce of child psychology I was taught in school. Even to the fact of where your eyes go when you are trying to remember something shows what type of learner you are. Speaking of learning styles the kids had midterms this week so we spent countless hours going over math and science problems. Most of them still failed their math exam, building on concepts is very hard for them. I know that I am going to miss them very much. I will worry about who is helping Mary with her math, I hope someone washes Ken's clothes, is someone going to sing with the babies? Within this last week I am going to try to prepare myself for my return home. I am excited about coming home and being with the people that I have missed greatly, but now part of my heart lives in Kenya. 67 parts of my heart, each with its own special place.

Week Four- Undignified

           Let me start by saying this week has been hard emotionally, physically, and mentally. My body is tired, I'm missing my life back home, and the devil has put all kinds of lonely thoughts in my head. However, I am not sick, I am resting as well as possible, and have really reached out to family and friends that mine as well be family for encouragement. Thank you to all who sent emails and have continued to pray for me, I cried through most of them, I do not deserve the love and kindness I have been shown.
          My kids are great. Since we last spoke I have won the favor of the boys. Some of them are completely in love : ) They say one day they will go to America and find a beautiful wife just like me. So now at night I have about twenty kids sitting on the floor, or buckets, or laying on the bed. A couple of days ago one of the boys set beside me for an hour not joining in with the conversation just holding my hand and stroking my hair. I am such a new creator to these kids. They touch my freckles, trace my veins, pinch my skin to watch it turn red, etc. One little girl asked me why my blood was green, talking about the color of my veins. I truly think I have been asked every question possible about America, my life, or my skin and hair. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. I have been an open book to these kids. The oldest that is around now (since the highschoolers already left for boarding school) is about 13. I remember being 13 and having a zillion questions about life, love, my body, finding my individuality. They have NO one to ask questions to, their older siblings are away at school and they do not have older role models that are not authority. Sometimes the questions are super personal and I would normally completely avoid answering them but as we will discuss later I have sucked up a lot of pride and answered them anyway.
        When I have all the kids around I usually open my bible and ask them what their favorite verse is, as always they impress me so much. One girl named Regina, she is what I would call the Lauren Hill of the Sister Act cast. Regina leads the songs with her AMAZING voice and she is so sweet and meek and mild. Anyway, when asked about her favorite verse she takes the bible and reads this, “Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” Job 8:7 Another girl goes next and reads Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Now let me ask you, when is the last time someone turned to Job or Zephaniah to read you their favorite verse? These kids are really something else, right!?!
        In 2 Samuel 6 there is a story about David dancing in very little clothing while the ark of God makes it way into his house. Some people looked down on him and vocalized their disgust when David heard he responded by saying, (v. 21-22) “It was before the Lord.... I will become even more undignified than this.” This story was brought to my attention by Francis Chan in a book called Forgotten God. Which then made me think about this song we use to sing at Camp U by Matt Redman that says “I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my king, nothing Lord is hindering the passion in my soul, I will become even more undignified than this, some may say its foolishness, I will become even more undignified than this, lay my pride by my side” If you have never heard it you should look it up on Youtube it is a good one. I am always looking for new songs to teach the kids and they have really liked this song! I hear them singing it all the time and even heard one of the cooks humming the tune the other day. So, I say all of that to say this, it has really started a thought process for me about what it even means to become Undignified before the Lord, or just in general really. I think kids really show this the best. They don't care one bit what they look like, how they smell, if people are going to laugh at them, if they want to dance or raise their hands during a song they will. Now I know that some GCC goers out there are getting worried about where I am going with this. You are thinking now wait a minute Candice we are a contemporary church but dancing? That is for other churches. And that is not a point I am here to discuss, it is way more about the feeling than the action. When is the last time that you openly walked into a situation knowing you were going to look silly to those around you? That your actions were going to be considered out of place or not socially excepted? I think about Rhonda, Donnie, Penny and all the other children's church workers that put on costumes and dance around for the kids. This is becoming undignified for the Lord and they will be blessed for it. Mom and Dad told me about the outreach weekend our church is doing this summer and I think it is awesome! I think this is the perfect opportunity for some of our people to experience what I am talking about. I don't know what the service projects are going to be but I'm sure they are going to take long hours, hard work, and (hopefully) even some humility. I deal with this every single day here. I have had to set my pride aside 100% and for those that know me well that is a WHOLE lot of pride! I have not seen a mirror since I got here, I don't ever actually feel clean, my bathroom is a hole, I usually eat with my hands, just to name a few of the many things I would normally get very embarrassed about. But from the beginning I have thought it to be very important to show the kids that we are one in the same, therefore I have to suck it up be a Kenyan. Notice I didn't say anything about dancing around or acting a fool with the kids because that comes very natural for me, no embarrassment. So here is my challenge, who is around you that you need to become undignified before the Lord to show them that you are one in the same? Should you invite your drunk of a cousin over to dinner even though the rest of the family is not going to like that? Should you volunteer in the children's program? Should you take some college students out for lunch because you know they are poor (very poor) and can always use the extra encouragement even though you don't know them so well? College students, look around everyone needs something, if you see a need go buy the dollar ice scraper even though you know the gift will be looked down on at first they will really appreciate it in the end. Lose the pride, look like the fool, become undignified for the right reasons and you will be blessed.