Talented Teaching Team on The Hill

So after weeks of preparation and training, a group of nine teachers from America (including 8 child sponsors) left for a pretty incredible two weeks on The Hill.  After safely navigating our way through the Nairobi airport (never an easy task), we began our time by starting with a couple days in Nairobi.  On our first day we went to Kibera, which is really the birthplace of Oasis.

At a school in Kibera

Kibera in the largest slum in all of Kenya, so it can be a bit overwhelming, but it is where Oasis started so we always feel it is important to visit our friends there.  We started the day visiting a school there led by a man named Pastor Timothy.  There are over 400 kids at this school and they were bursting to share what they are learning, to teach us songs in Swahili, and let us pray for them.  Then we ended our time in Kibera by visiting St. Martha’s ministry, which is a ministry to HIV women and orphaned children.  These women have come together, under great leadership of a married couple there, to create a small business that makes jewelry, sew all sorts of goods, and have made a sustainable way of life for them.

Kibera kids in school

The next day we left for The Hill.  When we pulled up, all of the children were lined up in 2 rows and singing for us.  However, in the front of the 2 rows were the Children’s Home staff with each of the sponsored children who were about to meet their sponsors.  One by one the sponsored children walked up to greet their sponsors, and I do not say this lightly, but it was a holy moment.  To watch these people meet for the first time and immediately embrace, with tears running down their faces, and smiles that they could not wipe off for hours to follow, was a moment that only God could have designed.  The sponsors could not let go of their kids!  

There was a bit of anxiety going into the teaching week from the team.  The team started the week off bright and early with morning devotions at the school.  Then the classes started, and to say that I was overwhelmed by the talent each member of this team as teachers would be an understatement.  Each person on this team offers a completely unique teaching style that the kids and teachers of the school LOVED!  We are learning quite a bit from them about how to love people selflessly.  Plus, the kids in the school have been so much fun to teach and they are so eager to learn!  Then after school, sponsors were given some 1-1 time with their child to give them some special gifts.  Some sponsors went on a short field trip, others spent time with their child plus their siblings, and others just played games and shared stories with their kids.  A couple of team members spent the afternoon with the women of the community teaching them about nutrition.  The women were very receptive and excited about the information they received!   We ended the day with a night devotional with only the children at The Children’s Home (TCH).  For many of us this was the highlight of the day.  The team planned an excellent skit, which was so funny and educational, and made the kids laugh so hard.  However, it was watching those kids worship that had us all in awe.  These kids love God so much and it brings them so much joy to worship Him that, as one team member said, they put us to shame.  They have a complete joy! 

The rest of the week continued just like this, with each day getting a little sweeter because  the team was getting more comfortable in the classrooms and the kids were really starting to warm up to them.  Everyday there was loud laughter and often singing from the classrooms!  What is it about the laughter of a little kid that can make your whole day better?  One of the additional things the team was able to do was visit the home of the guardians to their sponsored child.  These experiences were all unique, but blessed each member of the team so much.  On these visits the sponsored child took their sponsors to spend the day with the people that they call family and to show them where they come from.  They were greeted with immense warmth in every home and were completely humbled by the fact that most of these families were obviously very poor but had gone out of their way to make a nice home for the sponsors.  The experiences varied greatly though.  From waking up at 4am to drive 6 hours to a home, to overcoming culture differences, to being given a sheep as a token of thanks, to being given the family name to take, to being called a sister in the family, to hearing the true, full story of their child’s upbringing, each visit was very unique to say the least.  However, each sponsor had a wonderful time meeting the family that their child comes from and seeing their world.

Our last day was very full.  Everyone taught in the morning and after lunch we had a school wide assembly.  All of the students and teachers gathered to honor our team with speeches and words of encouragement about the work we had done on that week.  The words were overly kind and gracious and we were completely humbled.  Then we had an opportunity to thank the teachers for allowing us to work in their school and also the students for being so wonderful to work with all week.  We also presented each teacher with a special gift to thank them for partnering with us and making us feel so welcome.  When that time ended, we were invited to Joseph’s house for a special naming ceremony.  Many male and female elders from the community were there in full Maasai attire and when we arrived they split up the men and the women.  The women were taken into a room and decorated with a leso and new necklace made by the women of the community.  While this happened the women sang and taught us all how to dance like a Maasai mama.  The men were taken into another room and decorated with shukas, head dresses, spears, and belts.  Then we were all taken outside where we all lined up as a member from the community walked forward and told us our new Maasai name and why they had chosen this name for us.  I already had a Maasai name from my first trip, Naasisho, so only the people who have never been there before get a new name. It was a truly unique and memorable experience that honored our team so well.  

The team at our last dinner together

That night, for our final night, we went up for devotion and had so much fun dancing and singing with each of the kids!  When the devotion was over, we gave each child a sucker, piece of candy, and glow stick bracelet (which they thought was really cool), and got them sugared up before bed!  However, the hardest but sweetest part of the night was the good-bye.  The entire team lined up and a couple of TCH kids prayed for our team, and then the kids lined up and said good-bye to each member of the team.  There were many tears and moments of sadness, but there would not be sadness if there were not moments of joy before it.  The team fell in love with these kids this week and did not want to say good-bye, but we all know this will not be the last time we will see them.  It was an incredible trip with a very gifted team.  This team blessed this community with so much, but I think the team would say they got more from these people then they could ever give back.  They were humbled and honored by their time here, and went back truly changed.  Even though I am remaining on The Hill for a few months, it is not the same without this team here and we miss them already!