To Clean A Toilet

You might be wondering if this is going to be a post about how to clean a toilet or a story about me cleaning a toilet, don't worry it will be none of the such but I will share a story about a Kenyan woman who is a friend of mine who says "...if only to clean toilets."

We have had such a busy week! Friday we went to Mbewau and handed out new shoes to all 172 students. These shoes were handmade (which means durable) and from REAL leather! Almost all the children received shoes but some are still waiting due to wrong sizes. This was a timely process as we had to lace up all the boys shoes, name and sort all of the shoes, and then bring in each child and try the shoe on. If the shoe didn't fit then we would have the child wait and see what shoes we could move around or switch.

Some of the 1st year Kindergarteners showing off their new shoes!
Dorcas, the one in the middle has a little joke that EVERY time she sees me she points her finger at me and says "wewe!" which simply means "YOU!" Considering she is 5, I think it's funny that we have an inside joke and it brightens up my day tremendously.

Christine (the mom) and Lydia (her daughter in the middle). Everyday she sees me she yells "Kadzo! Habari?" and then we continue to have a conversation by yelling through the trees to greet each other. We have been friends since my first trip in '08

This little girl is in the process of getting her hair done.

Saturday we attempted to do some bush medicine with the nurses that are here, but the rains prevented that from happening very long. We finished around noon and went to check in on Lucy, one of the teacher assistants who was pregnant when I was here over spring break. Lucy is this amazingly sweet woman who is full of joy and very shy until you get to know her. I was SO incredibly excited for her because she had a baby boy (her second child, first boy) on Wednesday and both mommy and baby are back home and doing so well.  Lucy was so sweet as she almost was mad at me because I had forgotten to give her my number which meant she wasn't able to call me when the baby was born. I am so incredibly happy for her and so thankful that everyone is doing more than well. Please pray for quick healing for her and health for this baby.

My new friend, she is 32 and pregnant with baby number NINE! She was so funny and so embarrassed when I kept telling her congratulations and touching her belly. Don't her eyes and smile just make you want to be her friend?

Brand new baby Morris, Me, and now mother of 2, Lucy! She is a beautiful mom and so blessed with this new baby!

 Sunday we went out to Maasai Corner (REAL4Christ's other location) and attended church and held a small medical clinic. They saw about 100 people as I took names, ages, and problems and handed out clothes to all the children. The people never cease to blow me away with their genuine hearts and ability to love. We saw lots of pregnant mom's (on baby number 4+), lots of kids with worms, lots of arthritis, and some cases of major sicknesses. Most of this is due to the fact that all these people are currently drinking water from a dirty swampy pond because the borehole has broken and funds are trying to be raised to fix it.

Where church is held/the waiting area on the left of the car and then the medical clinic on the right.

Natasha attending to one of the boys of the family

Monday I had the privelge of helping my friend Kristen do computer entries on her website for Operation Give Hope (http://operationgivehope.org/).

As I started off, I was able to sit down today and have a very enlightening discussion with one of my Kenyan friends. I am telling you this story not because I want you to have pity on her but because I respect her and I am proud of her. She is a mother of 2 and she cleans houses while her husband works as a security guard.  She was telling me, like most East African's have, about how much she desires to go to America to work. We talked about how she needs to get a visa and then buy the tickets and how it can be a very expensive and long journey. She told me she understood and wanted to come and work in the States for 4 years. I asked about her kids and she said her husband would be able to take care of them. Then I asked her why she wanted to go and she said, "You know Cathy, you have seen, life is very hard here in Kenya and I want to make money for my kids. Even if all I do is only to clean toilets." Wow. Can you imagine someone saying that to you? She is ready to come to America, to this exciting but scary new place for 4 years all alone even to just clean toilets so she can make money for her children's future. She earns about $40-45 a month and her husband earns the same, and that is a pretty decent income for a family. Although after taking out the money for rent, money for her daughters education (the other child isn't in school yet), and paying some money to her widowed mother, her family is left with about $20 for the month for food, transportation, and any other necessities including medical problems or whatnot. That is 20 out of 80-90. A bag of flower is costing about 2 bucks which will last the family maybe one or two meals (for the cheap ugali). She has not been eating lunch at work because she has to buy lunch or bring something to make and that has even become too expensive so a few slices of bread and a soda suffice until her late dinner.

Because they are so tight on money, she walks to work each day. She leaves her house at 6AM and arrives to work at 7:30AM. She then leaves work at 4 and get's home at 5:30PM, tends to the children, and they all eat dinner around 8:30PM. Once again, can you imagine walking an hour and a half to work and then doing it again that same day? A lot of us wouldn't think it was worth it, but she sacrifices herself for the betterment of her children because if she didn't have this job she most likely wouldn't have any other.

Mama (the woman who REAL4Christ bought the Maasai Corner land from). She is in her late 70s and a typical opinionated grandma. She is hilarious and I loved spending time with her all afternoon and joking around with her. She made me miss my friends at Bluebonnet Assisted Living even more!