actively agape

My word, I thought I would be able to update a lot more than I have on this trip, but it's honestly not my fault! We didn't have internet access while we were in Kitale like we thought, so that's why. I'll try to update you as much as I can even though I don't have my journal on hand or anything.

We arrived (after a 6 hour delay) in Nairobi yesterday evening, so we were in Kitale for four days. Kitale is like another world from Nairobi, very rural and undeveloped as opposed to the bustling city of Nairobi. I was really excited about this part of the trip because we were doing a lot of VBS type stuff with different orphanges and kinship care based programs. The day we arrived we just got a tour of the place we were staying, the Love Mercy house, and went to Seed of Hope, an orphanage trying to transition into having more of a focus out of institutions into kinship care (living with extended family) and foster care. Both are very beautiful ministries.

Unfortunately though, my time in Kitale was really disappointing because I couldn't participate in anything because I got sick.The one place I was able to visit was the Reynolds Center, a pre-k/k school for the kids in one of the poor slum areas in the countryside...and the kids were absolutely ADORABLE. They didn't speak much English but they sang three songs for us and it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life! It was really hard for me though because there was already a huge language barrier, plus the whole day was like a slow motion fog for me...I felt at my worst.I had a sore throat since Nairobi, but as the days went on it got worse and worse, and I woke up feeling weak, fevered, headache, sore throat, body ache, and chilled that morning.

The next day I was taken to the clinic at Seed of Hope (along with another girl, Elise, who started to not feel good as well) and we tested positive for malaria. So I stayed in the Love Mercy house all day on Saturday and Sunday trying to rest and re-cooperate.Because I was feeling so terrible and just negative in general, I didn't really think about just how much I was missing out on until I heard all of the stories my team had of all the kids they got to do crafts with, dance with, and play games with. I was stupid, but I was crying selfish tears because I wanted to experience that so badly, but in the grand scheme of things my presence clearly wasn't that crucial.

On the bright side though, that time spent alone, particularly on Sunday when I started to feel better, I spent all day journaling out my thoughts on the trip/life in general, so it was a really beautiful moment for me. So in a way, I am very thankful for the time getting sick gave me to really sit and think about things that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I woke up this morning (Tuesday) feeling like a different person. My throat is still sore and I still have a headache, but I have definitely felt "myself" more than any other day on the trip. Today we visited Daystar University and got a tour of campus and was able to see what college is like in another culture. I really enjoyed seeing the campus, which was absolutely beautiful, and meeting some of the students and hearing their stories. The visit made me want to study abroad so badly! They have a social work and community development program, and it was really interesting to see how faith-based social workers work in another culture. Our team leader, Jon, is looking to try and build a partnership with them.So that would be incredible if that fell through!

I was expecting these updates to be

a. more frequent.

b. more detailed. (but not novel-length or anything)

so I'm really sorry that I'm having to keep everything general since I don't have much time to sit in front of a computer. But tomorrow we are headed to one of the biggest slums in Africa, Kibera, and the next day we are leaving for safari. I really can't believe that the trip is pretty much over. I have learned so much, but at the same time I feel like I haven't really done anything. But that's probably because so much time is spent traveling, plus I was sick. I just really hate that and feel like I need to be here for longer. But I better go, and I thank you so much for your prayers! Much love!