Day 3,4, and 5

I realize its been a few days and I apologize. We have eaten out twice at missionaries houses stationed in Nairobi that work with missions of hope and yesterday we ate at a restaurant. That being said my time to write has not been much. 

Day 3: 

Today was all home visits. That means we walk through different slums and visit those with needs that force them to stay inside their 10x9 house. We saw three different special needs children. All with similar difficulties. Growing up in this small of a space with literally no where to walk or crawl forces bodies to develop with problems. Add in lack of nutrition, adequate water supplies, and illness every where forces children to have many difficulties. Most are forced to stay in their home their entire life. The culture in Kenya looks down on those with disabilities. It is a serious disgraces to have a child like this. The family hides their child inside the house so that no one discovers that their child has special needs, so well that most neighbors do not even know there is another child. The good news is that we are one of the first teams to actually go in and show love to the kids. The community watches us, mzungus (white people), so closely that every move we make they internalize. Once we enter the slums the kids follow us no matter how far until we reach the home. From there we are able to bring the special needs child outside to asses him or her. The kids see us touch and take pictures and love on them, which sends the message that we accept these kids. We end up drawing 40 kids into one small alleyway or walkway and have all the adults watching as well. The team will laugh with them, tickle, play, hold, and dance with the kids. The entire community is able to witness Gods love through simple actions requiring no words. That is what I love about entering the community. For dinner we ate at a families house that is living in Nairobi with their two children. It was amazing and filled with lots of laughter. 

Day 4:

 Today was amazing. There is no about of detail that I can add to today's story to bring it justice. It's something that will require a face to face conversation. It dealt with a family we met last year and the drastic change we saw today. This change was because of our team, Parkview, and of course God. We happened to be blessed with the experience of helping this family and the ability to see the change. 

I bought lots of Kenyan coffee and espresso :) 

Day 5: 

Today we worked in two schools of MOHI assessing the special needs students that currently attend those schools. We did recreational work, eye exams, music therapy, yoga, and a general work up of them. We began at MOHI and assessed some kids we worked with last year and some new ones. Then we moved onto the most fantastic part of the day which was seeing Vinnie. He was a young man we visited last year that had leg problems. Vinnie was extremely shy but had a contagious smile. He was joyful but very reserved. Today we got to see him again and I cannot express the joy that I felt once seeing him again. We simply just visited him and tried to see the progression of his leg since we last saw him. After Vinnies visit, we went to another school. We did the same thing as at Pangani. The kids are wonderful and love seeing us. 

The detail and rest is left to be told when I return. I am very tired but very filled. Please continue to be praying for our team as we have many getting sick. Thank you for praying! 

Maddie