Last Day in Kenya

Hi everyone.  We just returned to our hotel from a long journey out to visit the Massai Tribe.  We were able to visit one Compassion Project that has 370 kids in the program.  They put on a traditional Massai Warrior dance for us which was amazing.  The kids did the dancing and was a lot of fun to watch.  We were able to visit their church, their school and also one home.  The home was made of sticks and cow manure.  It was suprisingly comfortable after the homes that we visited in the slums.  The only issue was the small fire that they kept going in the middle of the hut for warmth and cooking.  Their was no hole in the roof, so the exhaust from the fire was a bit overwhelming.  Before Compassion arrived here, there was essentially no school for the kids, no church and the girls were often married off by their families between the age of 12-14.  Now, there are several girls beyond that age that are still in school and doing great.  Amazing stuff.

We also had the opportunity to visit another small church about 10 miles away from the previous one.  This church is in the middle of an area with a lot of kids, but they can not get to the current Project because of distance as well as they are full.  Their is a man, Salomon, who just graduated from Kenya University as part of the Compassion Project.  He is 25 and has been part of Compassion since he was 4.  He is now done, and is moving back to where he grew up and is trying to start his own Compassion site.  The minimum for starting a site is a Church, classrooms, an office, bathrooms and a kitchen.  They already have the Church and through Salomon's work, they just completed the bathrooms and kitchen.  When Pastor Ray from Bayside visited this church last year, he was amazed at the passion in this young man and said we would try to help.  Bayside raised enough money for the Dandora Project that we were able to put some of the extra towards helping to build the school buildings and office.  They are hoping to have it done by Christmas of this year.  So, by this time next year, their will hopefully be another Compassion Project in the area that is serving 300 kids and teaching them about God, feeding them and teaching them Trade Skills.  Our brief visit with Salomon was great and he shared his vision and plans and is excited about being able to give back to the community through the organization that was able to rescue him.