hannah's family

As we've mentioned before, Compassion allow their sponsors to send birthday gifts in the form of a cash amount. The gift money is sent to the relevant project where the staff liase with the parents of the child and the child themselves to determine how they would like to spend the money. A typical item that is purchased for the child's birthday might be a mattress, some maize or rice, and a pair of shoes. Hannah's family had decided to buy a goat on two different occasions and we were able to see them on their property. This is something that Compassion encourage with the parents as it allows them to build up a sustainable income for themselves.

day twelve

Our third day with Compassion took us to another project, 20 km the other side of Nairobi, to a more rural setting where we met Hannah and Deborah. The project itself was situated on a school campus and so we arrived to the warmest (and most frenzied) reception yet.

Probably one hundred children greeted us, so much that we could barely get out of the car.

on the road

the market at ya ya

sunday school

day eleven

Nate joins in on a Sunday School class at a local Gospel church.

wangari and tabitha

wilfred

tabitha

child's play

a quick kick

After visiting the homes of Wangari, Tabitha and Wilfred we returned to the project to have lunch and then a game of football. We were joined by lots of local kids and all the Compassion staff joined in. It was such a great day and the staff made us feel so much at home and welcome there. It was very difficult to leave them.

nate and his girls

local kids

wilfred

Wilfred also lived in rented house but on a hilltop so his home was less muddy than the rest. Each home was set out in a similar way inside, one or two rooms (one in this case) and curtained to divide the spaces. The living rooms were always jammed with furniture, only seating and in most cases the seating was just boxes or stools covered in a cloth. The rooms were all very dark with very small windows which were an open section of the wall rather than a glassed view. However in each home we were welcomed warmly, given the most comfortable seat in the room and encouraged to feel at home. We were very aware of how privileged we were to be allowed into their home.

tabitha's family

Wherever we were, crowds gathered and so when we visited Tabitha and she, her mother and brother sang for us, by the time they had finished we turned around to see the whole village gathered at their tiny door. We later discovered it was Nate they'd been watching, not the singing.

star attraction

wangari

Wangari took great pleasure in showing us where she lived, and as we all piled into the back of the 4WD to make our way there she and Tabitha sang exuberantly all the way. Once the car had gone as far as it could we again faced the mud on foot, Wangari holding my hand to lead the way. Her home was much larger than those we'd seen the day before, however she came from a larger family. After the formal welcoming and thank you from her parents she said 'I am happy to see you with my own eyes'.

My own eyes started to well up at that point.