Thanks for being so supportive of me by reading what is happening in my daily life!! I know I don't post every day, but I hope I post enough.
So today is day 45!! My stay is already halfway over and it went by soooo fast. I am hoping and praying that the next 45 days are as exciting and eventful as the first.
Thursday we went back to Juja farm!! The town is called Juja Farm, as well as the 2nd location of Happy Life. It is approximately a 45 minute drive from the Nairobi location. It is amazing out there. They have one house with 17 kids, a house mom, a teacher and a cook. They are working on the second house, which will be the same setup. They have a large church, where the locals at Juja Farm can attend. They are looking towards building a school, as they have 5 acres of land. This school will be for the children at the home, as well as the local children. There are many parents in that area who would never even think to put their children in school, because they cannot afford it. This school would be a way to get more children educated, as well as provide jobs for the locals as teachers and helpers. Also in the future, there are plans for a clinic. This would also be for the locals use, as well as the children. Juja farm is an amazing addition to Happy Life children's home. I will be sharing much more about this project when I get home.
The last two days for me have been filled with dizzy spells and hospital visits. Every now and again during the day (for the past three ish days) I all of a sudden get dizzy and have to go lay down. I think it is from not drinking enough water. Unfortunately, since the elections and all, some people say don't go out and some say it is fine, so I was conserving my water supply...bad idea. I will not be doing that anymore!! And if they don't go away, I will chat with the nurse here and see what she thinks. And as for hospital visits, I was asked yesterday and today to accompany some children to the clinic. Yesterday (Friday) we took four kids, all under 2 to the clinic to get treated. Some have pneumonia and some have the flu. Today (Saturday) our nurse isn't in, so we had to take the babies back to the hospital to get their daily injections. Now, I am sure you are picturing us loading all of these babies into carseats in a big van and driving to this clinic...WRONG. We don't use carseats here, we just hold them on our laps. It is pretty crazy. Yesterday we had one lady per baby and the 2 year old was buckled up. But today was a different story all together. We had one driver, Winnie and then Hannah (a house mom) and I and five children. Veronica is about three so she sat in her own seat, but the others are all under 1 1/2. So I was carrying one baby and had another lying on the seat beside me and Hannah had one baby in each arm in the front seat!! It is super crazy, but this is totally normal. And I got to experience today what it felt like to have triplets. Picture this, I am sitting in the back seat of a van. I have one screaming baby lying on my lap while another is lying on my chest and I am patting her back. The third one, who desperately wants to be held, is on laying on the seat beside my leg while I pat his tummy. It was crazy because all of them are hungry and sick!! Not too sure if I want triplets anymore.......hahaha!! If you can please pray for our sick babies:
- Cathy; who is currently staying in the hospital with pneumonia. She is three months old.
- Seth; not too sure what he is sick with, but he also may be deaf. It is hard to get him checked out because the waiting time for a specialized doctor is a long time. He is about 2 years.
- Naima; I think she has the flu. She is about 1 1/2 years.
- Jaden; also the flu and is 8 months.
- Patrick; he has diarrhea and is about 1 1/2
- Hannah; she has been sick lots lately. Not too sure what she has this time. She is 7 months.
- Sophie; is 8 months and has the flu.
- Veronica; she is about 3 years, and she also has the flu.
On the bright side, after six looooong days of waiting and tension in the air, Kenya finally has their 4th President!!! Uhuru Kenyatta from the TNA political party. From what I hear he is the better choice because the other candidate who was closest in votes, would have lead the nation downhill. He is suspected of being a devil worshiper...so thank The Lord he didn't win!! And there is peace right now in this country which is super amazing!! You should have heard the noise today. It started at 3am this morning, when they heard that Uhuru had won. I heard the noise at 5am and it has continued all day. Car horns going, people cheering, party horns being blown and house moms dancing and singing!! At 3pm this afternoon was the "official" announcement and then the noise rose up loud once again. I am so thankful for all of your prayers, and for peace in this country. God is so Good!!
Tomorrow will be church in the morning and a pretty regular day in the afternoon. Nothing too big planned for next week aside from maybe visiting Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa. Whether we go or not depends on any post-election violence. Usually the violence starts in the slums, so we will have to see if we can go or not.
I talked with Rev. Peter about the donations that I raised while I was at home, and I have started giving him the donations. Mostly they will be going towards Juja farm, but I will be given a list of all of the things that your donations went towards!!
I hope you are well and enjoying your winter :)
Thank you for your continued prayers and support!! If you are intersted in donating to Happy Life Children's Home please email me at rachelbergen_13@hotmail.com.
Love: Rach :)
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