3-27-2012 Hakuna Matata, sponsored children, and bead factories

We had breakfast and went off to the Compassion office. We woke up at 6:30 am. I'm not a morning person. Compassion offices are very nice and very organized. I heard that there are 80 staff there in Kenya. It's really the one on one contact with the sponsored kids and their families that makes Compassion unique. The industry standard for similar organizations is that they just have to physically see the child at the project. Compassion develops relationships with these children and their communities. A social worker will visit the child at his or her home once a month. The whole visit, I was so impressed with the way Compassion serves our brothers and sisters. Totally Christ centered, child focused, church based, and committed to integrity.
What a long day We went to the bead factory where single mothers were employed and given opportunities to work making beads and painting. Most of the mothers came from the slums. I would've liked to hear how Kazuri had personally changed lives, but we didn't have much time to talk with them. The second shop we visited, I enjoyed even more! It was a Christian based organization - Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project. It seemed much more of a holistic child and family development program than Kazuri. The people seemed so joyful here. The Kawangware made everything from quilts to jewelry to children's books and clothing. Very cool to see this community flourishing. It was in a nice neighborhood and you could hear the children singing on the 3rd floor. What a great experience.

I loved the day that we visited Elizabeth's sponsored kids. My child is in West Africa (Ghana) but Elizabeth had the great privilege to meet Antony and Antony. They are 1 correspondent child that she writes letters to and one sponsored child. They were both very shy, it was fun to hang out with them and to try to get them out of their shells alittle bit. We played ball with them, asked them about their families, and even took a boat ride with them. This was one of the highlights of the trip. Elizabeth was a little nervous, but it was such a great time by the time we finished - we didn't want to say goodbye. It's incredible what Compassion does in the lives of these people.  It was also very interesting to talk with a man named John that accompanied Antony. He was the computer teacher at the center. We talked for a long while about what he does at the center, and about where he grew up, etc... He was asking about my tattoos and I was explaining them to him. He asked me about the blue bird on my arm. I told him that I tend to worry a lot and that the bird reminds me of Matthew 6:25-27 "²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?" 

He asked me what I worry about and I didn't know what to say... I was stumped. The things that I worry about are so insignificant in comparison with what a lot of these people go through day to day, and they are so joyful and "hakuna matata," no worries. Before we went our separate ways...John put his hand on my shoulder and said "Friend, you must do something for me before you leave." He said "Leave your worries in Kenya. No more worrying." Wow. What a way to end our trip. Both Elizabeth and I didn't want to say goodbye to our friends. It was such an amazing experience. Our whole group was in tears as we got on our buses.