From Slums to Slobber!

We left the Mission House at 9:00 a.m. on our way to the deep slums of Nairobi. We were going to Fred's orphanage. Fred is one of the Nairobi ministry team members that accompanied us to Katui earlier this week. He was in Katui to deliver extra beds that his orphanage had been given. He wanted to bless the orphanage for the blind. How humbling.
We arrived at Fred's orphanage which was a diamond in the rough. A high rise sanctuary for children that were taken off the streets. We were greeted with a tunnel of children singing a welcome song. I felt special and was overwhelmed by their genuine happiness by our arrival. As is custom, the children did a presentation which included song and traditional dance. It was very interesting when they picked out members of our team to dance with them. Lauren Shawver almost had a heart attack when picked to dance.
Our team then gave presents which included balls, frisbees, candies, and Faith t-shirts. We did a presentation of the salvation beaded necklaces. 32 boys proudly displayed the necklaces all day. The 22 gallons of paint and 25 brushes, that Faith purchased for them, arrived and the fun began!
We split up as half of the team took the little boys to another part of the building and played while the other half of the team stayed to teach the older boys how to paint. Walls and ceilings of a room about 600 square feet were quickly plastered with paint! A lot of the paint actually ended up on the walls. On the other hand, much of it ended up on the floor, hands, faces, you get the picture. At the end, we washed the caked on paint off and left tired, sore, and knowing that we made a big difference in those boys lives.
From the slums to the beautiful, modern mall we went. We ate at the food court, which is a combination of fast food and 5 star dining in. The contrast was very significant.
We ended the day at the Giraffe Center in Nairobi. We found ourselves bonding with the animals very quickly! We learned a great deal about the giraffes and visited the gift shop. This was the first shopping of the trip! Now we are back at the Methodist Guest House where we planned for tomorrow which is going to be a doozy!
"I love you, mother!!"

This post written by: Benjamin Daniel Stricklin (Junior)