Update #8 cont.

 ....yelled from all parts of the van. Jambooo!  Helloooo! For the last
time. This afternoon it will be "Kwaheri". "Goodbye" for the last
time....this trip.


We see the dam. We see the area next to the dam which looks just as
thick with trees and shrubs as the dam did until August 11th. It is truly
amazing, the work our men, the project dads and the church men have
accomplished.  Monica, Jill, Jenn, Laurin and I head back to the van to
do the "cartooning"; painting animals on the walls. Hillary was not
slated to do this, but since she is now crisp from the sun despite the 70
spf, she is joining us. She says that she can't draw a stick figure,
but that doesn't mean much....she's going to draw the heck outta that
stick figure today!  Everyone laughs.  I ask her nationality. Scottish?
English? She answers, "Honkey. I'm translucent. I get burnt watching tv
in my livingroom". Another good chuckle.

We just passed a house (2 huts) with red flags. Joseph informs me that
that signifies a supposed clairvoyant or fortune teller living there.
We see a girl walking in jeans, a "smart" t-shirt and nice glasses.
What? No dress? Joseph says she is more than likely from Nairobi, a
university student visiting grandparents. 

We arrive, ready to draw, paint, and get those creative juices flowing
on animals and pets, as was mentioned as our subject matter earlier.
There's one little problem. The area they want us to paint is outside
ABOVE the doorway, near the roof.  Access to that area is being built as
we stand there. Oh...it's done. I hadn't realized. There are 2 tree
branches that we are to stand on about 7' up in the air. I look around and
suddenly  Jill and I are alone.  Some of the girls had skirts on, so
that sure wouldn't have worked. They head to work with the moms. I asked
Jill, "Are you going to bail?" "Yep." she answers decidedly with a
smile. Okie Dokie. This is funny. It wasn't so bad in the end...they got
the drift and called me into the back office. Change of plan. Joseph is a
project dad and a talented artist. He will pencil draw animals in the
back office. We will paint them. Soon, all the girls are in  about a 6'
x 8' office filled with storage items, 2 desks and 3 Kenyans trying to
help. Not a lot of room. Shortly we have several drab colors of paint,
a deep Sedona red and bright blue. Joseph has outlined a funky, angry
looking rabbit (which we learned much later wasn't a rabbit at all, but
a Kenyan Jungle Baby...hence the long, non-fluffy tail. Cristin said
she saw several on the side of the road one day...sort of rabbit, sort
of deer) on one wall, an angry looking elephant with a rider on top on
another, and a gazelle being killed by an arrow with a tree nearby for
the third.  The paint was runny, the fumes were strong, the children
were giggling, peering into the small window and Jill's sunglasses fell
into the bright bucket of blue oil paint! Laurin tackled the rabbit/jungle
baby and tried to soften it's eyes.
The ever-running paint made him look like he was crying. At least he
doesn't look evil any more!  Jill got creative mixing colors to
accomplish her pretty flower, the girl who professed to not be able to do a
stick figure did a fine job on the tree. Jenn's Gazelle pursued by the
swift arrow rocked and Mo and I were able to pull off the elephant with a
man on top. After a while, the fumes were really getting to us and the
paintings started looking really good! LOL!  Turpentine was poured all
over our hands to clean up, however, the milk they traditionally drink
after working with oil based paint was at this time not present.

Everyone returns from the dam. It is complete, Praise God!!! What a
task. What a gift to the people. In a powerful and moving goodbye speech
later in the day, appreciation for this effort was expressed in volumes.
It has spawned the thought of starting 14 more potential dam sites.

Lunch: Maybe 2:30ish? Can't remember. Same stuff.

Shortly after lunch, the goodbye ceremony begins. It is very much like
the welcome ceremony, only shorter, with gifts exchanged, and an
emotional investment no one had at the onset of this visit. Now we were
hearing from, speaking and singing to people we have come to love. They were
no longer a sea of unknown shining, beautiful faces staring at us, but
now we were gazing upon people with names; homes we had visited;
children we had taught, played, prayed, and laughed with; lives which are
now forever intertwined with ours.

The afternoon began with prayer, class 4 and 5 bible verses and songs,
and a song and dance from the project moms. It soon sequed into
speeches of appreciation for each person integral to the success of this week,
from the Compassion office staff to teachers to our drivers, cooks,
church staff  and the parents and children themselves. Appreciation was
given to those working until after dark and one mom who walked from a
far away town back and forth each day to help us. (They all walk
far...this woman must have walked hours each way, I believe 2). At one point
Chris was called up to speak on our behalf. He became quite emotional at one point,
which of course led to us all doing the same. Surprisingly, Eunice of
Compassion who was translating, also broke down crying, which culturally
is not expected here. Finally Moffat came to take over for her to gather
herself off-stage and Marshan asked us to do the same, impressing that
it is very important to end with a very positive last impression for
the Kenyans and crying is not a part of that scenario for them. Eunice
came back moments later, bouncing with a big smile, fully recovered and
ready to tackle things again. We moved onto the gift giving part of the
day.

Oh-My-Gosh. This was hilarious!  I cannot tell you how fun, touching,
special this was. I cannot wait for the video, though I doubt it can
catch the same energy as real life. First up: Bill. He is presented a
brightly colored cane "for his age". Everyone started howling! Bill accepted
it with grace and made everyone laugh with his acting skills, hobbling
off with his new cane.  Jon is next and is also offered a cane "for
all his running up and down". Same for John W. Next is Delos, who is
gifted with a handmade bow and 2 arrows. The real deal...sort of. 
You can't really use it. He feels like quite
the African warrior at this point as he pretends to shoot the arrow
into to air. Chris, Jared, Marshan and Kenny all receive the same. Next
Cindy is up, receiving a handmade basket to carry on her head and a
decorative gourd for the home. Jill, Ana and I receive the same, though
Ana's gourd is HUGE and has a removable lid to carry water. Cristin,
Nicole, Laurin and Hillary receive a gourd bowl, huge cooking spoon and a
large rope necklace to decorate themselves "for their boyfriends." I guess
Ibraham might have had the "glad eye" for Laurin with the way he
presented her gift to her. Some might have perceived it as a marriage
proposal! The sisters have been quite popular over here! ;o) Jenn, Jenny,
Danielle and Pat were presented an ornament, painted shell, porridge gourd
and cool, tall soup spinner. I am so sorry if I have forgotten someone.
There is so much going on here, and such long days that my brain goes
on sensory overload.
  


Quail as a whole was presented 4 gifts as well. They expressed that
they knew that back home was a church supporting us and it would not be
possible without them. They called  "Billiam" (Bill...funny)  and Ana forward to
accept 2 instruments (washboard tamborine type thing) and 2 small
sculptures, one of each for the Lighthouse and for the
Big House.

Jeff was hilarious when it was his turn to be gifted. He announced that
Jared will present me a gift and you will clap for me:  Bow and arrow
and a machete. The guy is SO sweet.

Next we offered gifts from us to the teachers: Daily treasuries of
Wisdom and 100 Days of Praise books, and a few other goodies tucked into
little bags. For the children, Jen, Jill and Ana presented one photo of
each child (they were so excited about this...they LOVE to see
themselves on our cameras...no mirrors or cameras in these homes, of course),
and the hand made cards and puppets from the children of Quail. (I
totally started crying when I saw CJ's the other day. So darned sweet. I miss
my boys).  There were bag loads of other gifts presented earlier in
the day...so many clothes, school supplies, medicine etc. Many of us
brought and wore mostly clothing we would eventually give away. I gave a
away so many shirts, I don't have enough for the rest of the trip. LOL!
And when we arrived home last night, I noticed Delos barefoot in the
dirt. I asked what happened to his shoes. He said he gave them to
Dunston the evangelist...he just couldn't help but do it. I think that about
sums up how most felt yesterday. There just wasn't enough that we
could do. Later, at dinner, Delos said to me "Honey, can I tell you, of all
the amazing moments we have had here,  what the MOST amazing one for
me was?". Of course I answered yes. During the gift exchanges, it was
Delos who was slated to give Preacher Patrick his gift. Following
Hillary's lead of lifting her girl off the ground with her hug, he lifted
Preacher Patrick (the wide-smiled jack rabbit) right up when they hugged.
Then Preacher Patrick did the same to Delos (he is maybe 60!?!?) When
they both had solid feet on the ground, Delos looked him in the eye and
said, "I Love You!" to which he replied, "I love YOU!". He says that
mans eyes, words, soul, just seared right into him and it is a moment he
will never forget...what the trip was/is about for him. I am inclined to
agree.    The quick goodbye ceremony concluded after a couple of hours
and we departed the Raiicine Compassion Project 212 for the last time.
For a long time, we had children, moms and dads dancing, running,
waving, smiling, yelling, grabbing our hands. I was conscious of taking a
mental photograph as to never forget that moment.


Dinner: What a special night. Our hosts have prepared an extraordinary
feast. It even included fried fish and sodas for dinner! We have Susan,
Jim and Jeff from Compassion and the hosts families here.  They made a
large banquet line outside our dining hall. Sella, one of the main
cooks gave a very heartfelt and informative speech. Apparently Mary, Sella
and Symphoronza have many more responsibilities than cooking and
cleaning at this hostel/conference center. They do much the same outreach as
we have been and are very anxious to invite us back to experience that
and work with them.
John is the general manager of the property, a former educator in his
60's who gave a wonderful speech about how he has impacted people's
lives, and how we have on this trip as well. The ladies explained the
symbolism of a wedding ring being unending love. The beautiful round cake
from them has the same meaning. Frosting! Sugar! We are all excited.
First, a long congo line is formed and we all sing, hop and dance happily in
a circle. Then the cutting of the cake. There was quite the bit of
pomp surrounding that. We never did get a plate or a fork. Certain people
were chosen to cut the cake and feed one another. Up first, Chris from
Servant Life and John from the property. They looked, from our traditions,
like they had just exchanged wedding vows. LOL! Next up, John and Jill
who cut cake and fed the hostel staff. Then it was Delos and I to feed
the Compassion Staff. The sisters were called up to feed "new friends"
(the staff children). Ibraham fed everyone 24 and under, Abraham fed
everyone 24 and older.    
Caleb from Compassion gave an impactful speech imploring us to "please
see the good seed that you have planted.  Plans for new dams. Not a
mustard seed...a big seed." among other things.

After another full, blessed and memorable day, we hit the hay around
10pm.

Today we are off to Nairobi. We will be able to stop somewhere along
the way to exchange money and in Nairobi go shopping. Or so they say, for
now. In Kenya, plans always change. :o).

God bless you all!

The Kenya Team