From Geoffrey to you; I almost missed it

Sunday May 31, 2009

I almost missed it

My body was pretty exhausted today. I was sick on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which always seems to take its toll on your body and I am still feeling it. I went to kasha Friday night, I left my house about six at night and got home just about six in the morning and for whatever reason I didn’t fall asleep until about eight. I woke up three hours later and didn’t fall asleep until late last night. I woke up around five this morning and was at church until four thirty or so. My body = zonked! I tell you all this because my dreary state almost caused me to miss something so crucial.

I am always bombarded with little kids. They used to fear my skin, now it seems to be a magnet and they gravitate around me. I can’t remember the last time I walked down the street without a child yelling out my name and running to me or having one of them run up, grab my hand and walk with me. These kids have grown to love me and I them. There are two boys that I see all the time, these two are instigators, which is probably why I like them so much, I used to be one, heck I still am one. I love messing with them, chasing them, tickling them, scaring them and just being around them. I don’t know if it is their gleeful joy or sinister grins, but not once have I stopped to think about their living conditions or the difficulties they face.

Today, though busy, was one of those extraordinary days, a day of reflection and thanksgiving. I reminisced the empowerment I felt from the kasha, the lessons I have learned this week (one of which being to be more careful with what I eat) and just soaking up what life has to offer. I walked through the day in this blissful state, counting each smile as a blessing and every warm Kenyan welcome as a gift from God. My cloud nine strut came to an abrupt halt when I was called over by one of the instigators.

The eyes that I had only seen filled with mischief were now focused on the ground and his head was held low. This boy who had been the culprit of so many shenanigans and blared witty remarks that only come out of the unfiltered mouths of little trouble-makers like me, now mumbled his shame. He didn’t need to say a word, I knew what his body language was saying, the fact that he was nearly in tears gave away the fact that something was wrong. He started to describe the type of hunger he had. He started telling me about how bad his stomach hurts because he hasn’t had anything to eat for a while. He kept at the pain in his stomach, simply from now eating.

How could I be so foolish? How could I just overlook this child and his cousin? I had seen these boys more times than I can count and interacted with him and his cousin on a regular basis, how could I be so blind as to not even think about how I can help or if there is even a problem to help with? I fell for the clever smile and the jovial laughs. I felt horrible, I still do, here two little innocent children, though not so innocent when it comes to mischief, that I have had the power to help and yet I haven’t.

I took these boys to the place where I normally eat (hopefully they wont get sick like I did, I’m sure they are used to the food in this area). They each got a soda, Fanta is a big hit with these kids especially when they don’t get to drink them often, and ate a feast. They ate more food than I normally do in a day; they plowed through it and hardly breathed between bites; the way any guy would eat. In between their huge gulps of food, I was able to hear more about their story and lives. Every word they said struck my heart… here they were suffering so much, under my watch, and I was completely oblivious… talk about feeling cruddy.

I don’t really know what I learned from this experience. I know I can’t read minds and I don’t know everyone’s situation, but I just can’t shake the fact that this hunger was advancing under my watch. Maybe I need to open my eyes a little wider. Perhaps I need to look past the smiles and grins and really dig deep. I should possibly stop assuming and find out for myself… I really don’t know. This is one of those times when I wished that I had a fat billfold and could write a check to feed these kids for their entire life…

I know there are going to be plenty of more incidences where these children go to bed hungry. I know that for such a long time they have been malnourished and have been deprived of good hearty meals, but I also know that today they feasted. I can’t write a check that will feed them for the rest of their lives, but I sure as heck hope that this small feast, this small act of kindness, will shine compassion in their heart for the rest of their days. I know I can’t meet all of the needs; I can only hope to plant seeds and touch hearts.

Asante Sana,

Mwendwa

Prayer Requests:
Janet’s eyes
Generator funds
Medical center (I attached a photo)

RANDOMS:
I took medicine that is made to force the farts out of you…. It works..
Tires are as big with these children as legos are with our kids… I ended up stacking about six tires on each other and putting a kid in the stack… Ill attach a picture
There is little boy that attaches himself to my hip every time he sees me… he is always holding my hand… I attached a picture of the two of us
I have big ear lobes and if I flick them they make a popping noise… I showed this to the kids and they went nuts. None of them can do it… woot woot
Kids go CRAZY for stickers
I also put some pictures of Carro and the back of her head… you can see the shunt put in her head….

Word of the day:
Una Miaka Ngapi
Una me-ah-cuh nnn-gap-pee

What grade are you in?

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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