Junior

It’s interesting how God brings kids into my life. I know I’ve said it before, but it’s the truth. On the way to Pascal’s house to meet his mother and talk about him coming to the house I spotted Junior. He was just sitting on the steps outside of his house. On the way back we stopped by and said hello. A sweet little smile instantly lit up his whole face. 

Junior on the first day I met him

I talked to his Aunt and learned that his mother was only fifteen years old when she had him and dumped him at his grandmother’s house when he was just a few months old and never came back. I told him we would come back and asked him what he wanted me to bring him. Most kids say candy, cake, soda and things like that. Junior told me that he wanted soap because he doesn’t like being dirty. It broke my heart. 

On my other visits I’ve found out just how badly Junior is treated. There are several other children that live in the house. They are clean. Junior is filthy, I brought him new clothes and the other kids are wearing the clean ones while he is still dirty. They are in school. Junior stays home, sitting on the step outside by himself all day. They are healthy. Junior is skinny and his legs are swollen, which is a sign of malnutrition. 

Junior is a perfect example of how kids with disabilities are so often neglected because of the simple fact that they are just a little bit different than everyone else. Junior has Hydrocephalus, but they placed a shunt when he was a baby and he talks, walks and even runs. He is so full of joy despite of all the obstacles that he faces daily. 

Almost every time I’ve visited Junior, Augustus has been with me. The first time, the other kids that came along were shy and nervous and stayed in the car. Augustus got out and introduced himself and reminded me all week to make sure that I brought him soap and some clean clothes. Then we went back a second time with some small treats for him. He noticed how Junior was treated differently than the other kids and took fifty shillings that he was given by a visitor that had recently visited the house and gave it to Junior. When we got home he said to me, “Mom, I feel so bad for Junior. I know this house is so full, but we can’t leave him there.” Augustus told the story of what he had seen that day to the house moms and they didn’t even hesitate and simply asked when he was coming. 

For every little blessing that comes in the house I am reminded that I am more blessed to have such loving children and staff that welcome them with open arms. The work load is heavy, but their hearts break the same way as mine does when they hear of or see children being mistreated simply because they have a disability. 

Needless to say Junior moved into the house this week. He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. He went straight into class and stayed there the whole day. I had to fight away the tears when I saw how the other students didn’t even hesitate to welcome him with loving arms. God is molding the hearts of all of these precious little ones at such a young age. I am blessed to be a part of their journeys. 

Pascal

Kitale is a town that has many children living on the streets. For whatever reason they leave their homes and run to town. Life is hard for them. They beg for food and sniff glue to dull the emotional and physical pain that they face. My heart breaks for these children, but one little boy, Pascal, has broken my heart more than others. He is sweet, and has not yet become hardened by the tough life of those living on the streets. I would buy him a little food or take him to lunch when I was in town, but I didn’t have any other way to help him.

Pascal at lunch when he was still living in town.

He comes from an area of town called Mitume. I went with him to visit his mother a few weeks ago. She told me that his father died during the post-election violence in 2008 and she has been struggling to provide for her six children on her own every since then. Pascal had been in school, but she was unable to pay his school fees and after that he ran away in November and began sleeping on the streets of Kitale town. On our short little visit, Pascal seemed nervous and uncomfortable being at home and didn’t want to stay. He isn’t quite ready to talk about why he doesn’t want to be at home with his mother, but I learned that only one of her six children stay with her, so there is something going on there that makes her children not want to be at home.

Pascal with his little brother Japheth

Something that sets Pascal apart from the other children living on the streets that really grabbed my attention is his joy. His life is hard, he struggles to survive on the streets, but he always has a big smile on his face. His heart is so full of joy despite his circumstances. 

This week I met a couple that wanted to help a child get off of the street and send him to school. Pascal immediately came to mind and they agreed to send him to school. He will be going to Greenfields with Allan and Augustus. I learned that he also has a learning disability. He made it to 4th grade just being passed onto the next level even though he wasn’t retaining or understanding anything he was learning in school. So he will be going back to second grade and getting extra tutoring in the afternoon with Augustus. Hopefully this will give him the support and the little extra boost that he needs to be successful in school. 

With children who have been on the streets, there is always the risk of them running away. Life on the streets can be addicting and the children often have trouble adjusting to living with rules and conditions. So far Pascal is doing great and loves hanging out with the other boys at the house. Please keep him in your prayers that he makes a smooth adjustment from life on the streets to living with the kids and going to school. 

Pascal with his new friends! 

Adventures in Lodwar

It’s been a busy week. I headed up to the town of Lodwar to help a team who went to distribute food. I met a man named Jacob who is a pastor and has polio. He was telling me that he lives with his two nieces and his son that also have polio. Also his neighbor’s children have polio as well. I went to his village to meet his family. He is a community health workers that receives government support to help feed the children with disabilities living in his community. There are many struggles that he faces. Even if the fees for school are provided, the nearest school is far and the kids can't walk there because of their disabilities. There is nowhere in Lodwar where the children can receive therapy and the doctors have limited knowledge of how to treat them. There is so much need and the support he gets is very limited. Here are some of the children that I met on my quick visit to his house. 

Jacob's son, John

Jacob's niece, Nancy

Nancy's little sister Evelyn, who can almost stand straight

But she struggles to walk

Nicholas, one of the nieghbors who also has polio

Ebei, another one of the neighbors, who has down syndrome.
Lodwar is a desert town so it is very hot and they said he doesn't like wearing clothes.

He told me that there are more children in his community that he supports that have cerebral palsy and other disabilities. I am hoping to make another trip up to Lodwar soon to visit these kids and meet the other ones that Jacob supports to see their needs and how I can help. It’s encouraging to see someone else who is involved in reaching out to help children with disabilities. God has put the same passion on both of our hearts and I hope to be able to  work with him, his family and the kids in his community to give them the supports they need.

Construction has begun!

We finally broke ground on our building projects! This week  construction on the main house for the kiddos began. They started the ditching for the foundation and laying out the pillars. I are excited that we are now one step closer to having a bigger home with enough space for everyone to play inside. The house is going to be large, with enough space for everyone’s special chairs and enough room for everyone to have space to play and move around. This is just one step towards completion, but we are excited to finally have gotten started. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support that have helped us get this far!

Day 1

Stones to help support the pillars and the foundation.

More rocks for mixing in with the cement.

The crew mixing the cement.

Laying the wires to support the foundation.

New School for Allan and Augustus

I don’t write much about the challenges that I face in dealing with kids with disabilities here in Kenya. There is so much stigma. As a parent of these kids it can be incredibly frustrating especially when you don’t know where to turn for help.

 Allan was promoted to class 1. Since we only have preschool at the house I went out looking for a school for him. I talked to the principal and the secretary before school started and they said that he could learn at their school. On the first day of school, I took Allan to get him enrolled. After meeting him again they changed their mind. They told me that it would be better if I kept him home to learn with other children like him. I’ll admit my first reaction was anger. Allan had been so happy the whole morning, grinning from ear to ear at the thought of getting to go to school outside the house and crawling everywhere with his backpack on. Then at school they told me they wouldn’t take him just because of his disability. 

Allan has cerebral palsy, which keeps him from walking and causes him to struggle with writing, but he is so bright. He understands everything and uses English words that none of the other kids know and catches on to new things quickly. He has a few speech impairments, but once you spend some time with him it’s easy to understand what he is saying. And he’s determined, he will sit for 30 minutes putting his shoes on by himself because he knows he can. The second Allan heard the teacher say he couldn’t go to school there, his smile faded for the first time that morning and he just looked at me ready to cry. It broke my heart. There is a church at the school that I’ve attended with the kids before and they were talking about reaching out to the poor and the needy. There were signs posted all over the office that said “Education for all” yet they were turning us away. 

I was determined to find another school where Allan could learn, play and grow alongside his peers. A place where he will be accepted as he is and be given the chance to be educated. We went to a school just around the corner called Greenfields. It is well known for high test scores and is the place where most of the children from wealthy families in town go. I was reluctant to go, thinking we would be turned away again and didn’t want to see that heartbroken look on Allan’s face again. We talked to the staff and they met Allan. He was not his usual talkative self and was very quiet. Without hesitation they started talking to us about how to make it work for Allan to fit into their school. They said that they would arrange for someone to take him to the bathroom and to feed him at meal time. They were even willing to carry him around all day, the fact that we have a wheelchair for him was just an added bonus. 

The instant Allan heard he would be going to school there, his perfect little smile was back on his face. We immediately went to buy the uniform and he refused to take it off until bedtime. I am thankful that we found a school that is willing to accommodate Allan and give him the teaching and extra care that he needs. 

Augustus will also be going to school with Allan. Augustus has a learning disability that makes reading extremely difficult for him. We’ve tried working with him at home and getting him extra help at school and he still has difficulty writing his first name. So we talked to the teachers at Greenfields and they said that they would be happy to have him at their school and work with him to build his reading skills.

Augustus has a huge heart and will help out wherever he sees a need. Allan said that Augustus made sure he was taken to the bathroom, checked his bag before they got on the bus to go home and even stopped playing at lunch to feed him. It’s so encouraging to see how they really are a family. Augustus could tell I was nervous to leave Allan at school and he said, “Don’t worry I’ll take care of my brother.” I am continually blessed by them and their great big hearts. 

Leaps of Faith

Today I truly stand in awe of how great our God is. This week Precious Kids Center was featured on www.Buck4Good.com. Our goal was to raise $4,000 towards our building projects and operations at the center. God showed up in a huge way and provided us with over $17,000 dollars towards our project in just one week’s time. 

Our God is truly revealing himself to me as the Great Provider. Throughout this whole journey of starting and running Precious Kids Center God keeps reminding me that he is in control and he will provide for us. Matthew 6:26 says “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in the barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” This is the truth. God knows each one of us and what our needs and the deepest desires of our hearts are. 

This week our funds for general operations have been at an all time low. With the new year coming and school starting the expenses are high. The kids need new uniforms, the ones learning outside of the center need school fees, the rent is due, bills need to be paid, food needs to be purchased, and the staff needs to be paid. The van broke down this week, and it’s been sitting at the house because I didn’t even have the money to do repairs. I looked at the $200 dollars that I had in my bank account and prayed short little prayer. It went something like “Lord, you’ve got us this far and I know you will see us through.” 

When I went to bed last night, I checked Buck4Good and it said that we had $6,000. I was amazed. God’s perfect timing brought us the funds to keep going. This morning when I woke up it said $17,000. I was in disbelief. I hit refresh at least seven times before I could believe it was true. 

I say it again our God is great. There are no words to accurately describe his faithfulness. I’m not sharing this for any other reason than to encourage people to know that our God is real and whatever your situation is He WILL provide. Stepping out in faith is no easy journey. Living day by day relying on God to meet your every need is no easy task. His Word is true and He will never let you fall when you take those leaps of faith in his name. 

“I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy” Psalm 140:12

I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart for the support that you’ve given to each and every one of my precious little ones this week. To see how far each and every one of them have come with your prayers and support is breathtaking. I am encouraged and blessed beyond measure. Thanks again for all that you do to support Precious Kids Center!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Precious Kids Center.

A few of the kids went home to spend Christmas with their families so we had space to have a few extras over to celebrate Christmas with us. We spent the day at home playing with all of their new toys and ate a nice dinner. Thank you all for your continued support that allows us to keep putting such big smiles in the joyful hearts of these precious little ones. 

Cyril was so excited to have her new toys.

So was Bramwel

Rodricks came to spend Christmas with us.

Manu playing ring toss

Franco and August playing mini golf.

Willy loves his new ball.

Manu loves his new ball too!

Sam got a hole in one!

Manu loved the ring toss

Lucy judging the ring toss

Bramwel working on his swing.

Rodricks shooting hoops

Lillian

Manu and Lucy playing volleyball

Our make shift Christmas tree
I let the kids decorate themselves. 

Dan watching TV with his new bear.

Augustus helping Julius play with his new car

Mary and Japheth.

Lucy, Mary and Lillian

Mary, Augustus and Lucy hanging out with Japheth and Julius

Manu and Rodricks.