It has been an interesting week. It began with what I wrote on Monday, with the death of Tiberius' father, and then finding out more health issues. I wrote about the four who already got malaria at the base, and then as soon as I got back to the base after writing, I found out that Lilian, from our team, got it as well. She is doing a lot better now though, so that is good to see. Daniella had another health issue yesterday, causing a big rash to break out all over her little body. Her mom, Winnie, also got really sick this week. You can pray especially for this family on base. Baby Davin really wants to crawl, and perhaps even walk, but it's not exactly the cleanest conditions for him to do that.

We went to a school in the nearby village on Friday and got to teach in the different classrooms. It was a tiny mud building, but still had a lot of kids. They first assembled in this open area in the center of the building, but the kids were really crammed together standing, and they spilled into some of the nearby classrooms. They started with the head teacher announcing our coming, and then he asked if this one kid would speak, so the boy says "Good morning," and the entire student body yells out "Good morning Head Boy." (yes, I laughed out loud.) Then the same thing happened, but it was a "Good morning, Head Girl," and then "Good morning Junior Head Boy." SO funny. I asked Catherine if that was normal, and she said yes, of course. I guess most schools also have a Head Bell Ringer and some other interesting titles. :)
Anyway, after introductions and a little presentation from us, we split off into partners and headed into the various classes (there were all 8 grades, one class per grade.) I went with John to Standard 4 (it's kind of like fourth grade, but the ages of kids in school kind of vary because it really depends on when the kids start school, and depending on their situation, some don't start until pretty late.) Anyway, crammed into a TINY classroom, were about 25 -30 kids (all sitting on these benches with tables, like 3 to a bench.) It was small, and I definitely will not be complaining about not having enough space for a while. The classrooms in the whole building were separated by these half walls, so with some other classes singing and such, there were times it was difficult to hear or be heard. But, at least we had a classroom, because Judy and Wycliffe had their "class" in what would be equivalent to a hallway, with the kids smacked against this wall, and all writing was also on the wall (no whiteboards). The history of this particular school is that the person who began it found a lot of the kids on the streets, as orphans. Long story short, it was a fun time despite conditions, and every single group came back with fun stories to share and a great teaching time. :)

We have also been heavily preparing for outreach. I can't believe that we have only one more week of lectures before we go!! I am not sure if I will have internet or electricity for three months, so the blogging may get sparse. I will post pictures and a summary when I come home if that happens (well, pictures either way).
Here's some more info for those of you interested:

Stop 1: Golini.
We leave on June 4 and will be there for 3 weeks. Golini is a little village located about 45 minutes by matatu from Likoni. It is pretty small, and most people either do not work, or work in a nearby town or with small shops. There are a lot of issues that we will be working with and through. We will be living in a mud house, and hopefully it does not fall. (Last year, the team stayed in a house there that had a wall fall down while they were there.) Some other housing issues - they are currently building the walls around the pit latrines we will use, so hopefully the walls will be done, otherwise, we will be going to the bathroom with friends. There are also elephants nearby (yes, room 15, here's my chance to see elephants for you), but they can be destructive, so hopefully they won't come too close to our house. Another issue is the cooking because we will need to cook outside, and I guess many of the children and, well, everyone, come and watch us cook and eat. Fridah says it's very hard because we really can't give them food every time we eat, or else more people will come and we just don't have enough. I guess one year they had a party, and over 100 kids came and they ran out of food. I am not sure how I personally will be able to eat knowing that I can't give them very much.. so we'll have to figure that out. Anyway, we will be working with a small church there, and will be working on a water project.

Stop 2: Kitale.
Kitale is located in Western Kenya (you can google a map of Kenya if you are really interested. Kitale should be on most maps). We will be working with one of our speakers, John, and one of the schools there. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't know too much more. It is supposedly a lot colder there too. We will hopefully get to visit Lilian's home, and the kids she takes care of.

Stop 3: Eldoret.
Eldoret is a smaller village than Kitale, located not too far away. In our prayers for Eldoret, God keeps leading us to pray for the people in the IDP camps (sorry, I don't remember what that means, except that it is a refugee camp). Last year, Kenya went through a lot of political strife because of the election of the president. Tribal pride runs deep here, and there is still a lot of tension. Eldoret holds one of these camps, where some people have gone as refugees from their homes because they were run out of there due to tribal tension. We will be going to bring peace and the love of God to the people of the camps.

Stop 4: Vipingo.
Vipingo is about an hour drive away from home base in Mombasa, so it makes sense that we are going here last. More info to come. :)

That's all for now. Take care!