A Whole New World

Soo I moved across Nairobi to Mogra Star Rescue Center. It is very different than Hekima in many ways. There are double the kids (120) at the orphanage, and they are mixed boys and girls. It is a lovely home, the children are incredibly joyful and loving. They are very disciplined because they have to walk 4 miles to and from school. The high schoolers leave at 5:30am and arrive home at 7pm. They have a beautiful time of prayer and praise at 7pm before dinner. The Rescue Center also included the primary and secondary school which educations 1000 students ( I know it’s HUGE!)

This week I have begun working on sponsorship for the students at school. None of the kids can afford to pay school fees, so they have sponsors- mostly from the US and UK. Right now only half of the students have sponsors, so that means very little money is coming in to pay the teachers or provide lunch for the students (the teachers average $40 a month salary). My job is to go around the slum and meet with the families of the students and then write a report on it in order to come back to the US and find sponsors for these students. It is a huge task, considering 500 homes to visit, but one step a time…

Walking though the slum is shocking, and my prayer is that is continues to be shocking to me so I don’t become numb to it. The poverty I am exposed to is unlike anything you could imagine and my description will be nothing close. I visited tin and mud huts today, averaging 10 square feet that house 6-12 people, no electricity, water, or even windows. There is absolutely no sanitation or waste management in the slum, so garbage and waste overtakes the ‘roads’ and everywhere smells like human waste. At some points I was holding my breath in order not to gag in a families house. Other times I would look outside the door and see a man peeing in the “stream” that not runs through the road.
An example of the horrible situations I learned about in the homes: I met a single mother of 4, 26 yrs old, HIV +, she cannot afford food, therefore cannot take drugs to get better, and therefore has no energy for a job. She has concluded the best way to support her children is to prostitute herself for as little at $2 in order to feed her children for a couple days. It’s absolutely devastating. We were trying to convince her that if she took her children to school they would receive free lunch, and she would also be provided with a meal so then she could accept the FREE drugs and get better. We’ll see what happens, she has been in this cycle for so long it will be hard to change.

I am a bit overwhelmed because there is sooo much need here and I see how little we can actually do. However, I was reflecting on the gospel passage of the loaves and the fishes and was called to a greater faith. God is so great and he can multiply everything to satisfy his people. But I cannot! I cannot do any of this work and expect a difference to be made. But if I dedicate everything to God he has the ability to multiply everything for the people I am serving and change their lives. I am nothing but His hands in this field work, hoping to serve the best way possible.

I am excited to begin this new journey, but beg for your prayers. It is exhausting and I know I am not capable of doing it alone. Thank you, thank you! I miss you all and hope to hear from you soon! All my love Christie

Ps—for those of you who think I will marry someone over here, I could make it a reality! At school today I had proposals from 4 juniors and senior boys… I’ve got options, who knows!
Kidding of course!