day nine.

Today we went to Namuncha Massai Village. I absolutely am in love with the Massai people. The kids, the women, EVERY ONE. The guys were finishing digging a trench for the bathroom stalls for the school. So, for like an hour the girls got to play with the kids and do whatever. After the kids' break ended, they went back to class, and I was able to go and sit in on a class!!!! It's so different than the classes in America. It's not divided into grades or anything. There are three classes. THREE. For the whole school. It's divided by the age groups, I think. I sat in on the middle aged class. The teacher had the kids sing us like five songs haha. It was adorable.

"You are so faithful, so faithful, so faithful. You are so faithful, all the time."

While I was outside and in the classroom I was attached to a little girl named Naomi. I don't think she could speak one bit of English, but we didn't even seem to pay any attention to that. All we would do was smile and laugh. I tickled her and hugged on her, and whenever we walked into the classroom after their break she held my hand the whole way there. Ahhhh melts my heart. The funniest part about it was when another little girl would try and grab onto my hand she would push them away and then look up at me. 

beautiful Naomi

While we were in the classroom, I got to hand out the bracelets I made to all the kids in the class- which was about 32. Some of the girls from my group who were in there helped tie them on all of them. 

We left the class around lunch and ate, then we got to go up to the church, and the Massai women had a bunch of jewelry laid out on the ground for us to buy. One of the guys from Love Africa is buying the jewelry in bulk and is going to sell it in the United States for more money, and then send the money back to the women! So, we picked out the items we thought would sell the best in America. I got some really cute bracelets and keychains from them. I absolutely love these women. They are all incredible!

Veronica- the pastors wife- dressed me up in all of this jewelry that the women in the Massai tribe wear when they get married!

We ended up getting to go to a near-by village in Namuncha and had the opportunity to go inside a mud house. The one we went in was only the kitchen part (the first picture below is the outside.) When I first walked inside I couldn't see anything. It took my eyes a minute to adjust. But it was tiny. Probably about the size of a walk in closet. Probably smaller. It was almost unbelievable to think they LIVE in that. Really live in a house made of mud and sticks...... when I'm 19 and live in a nice, big apartment. Paying each month what they make in 5 years. It makes me want to throw up just thinking about that. Why are Americans the way we are.

On our way to the village we saw Agnes!!!! The first little girl I met while in Africa. I'm obsessed w her. She is precious. We took pictures and held hands and taught each other handshake chant games (i can't remember what those are called for some reason.) This was a hard day because we orobably won't get to come back here. I don't want to think about all of this at allllll. 

When we told everyone bye, I blew Agnes kisses and all of the girls started blowing kisses. I'm not sure if they even knew what blowing a kiss was until I showed them.

We left at about 4 and on our way back Chris dropped me, May and Lindsey off at the Dukas. I didn't eat dinner tonight...not many of us did haha. We had sweet potato-apple-sausage bake.....and tonight is the first groups last night which is really sad. 

Chris's parents spoke during devos tonight and told us their "story." They are both missionaries in Africa. Their story was incredible, if I had time to type it all- I would. But they encouraged us and reminded us that whatever God calls me to, HE will make a way. HE will open the doors no one but Him can open. It's all HIM. All that I am required to do is to obey. I have absolutely no idea what God is calling me to do. All I know is that I love kids. I love crafts. and I love Jesus. Not sure whether I'll be in art, education, business, design, missions.... or what in ten years. But I pray that I obey God to wherever he leads me and calls me to do.

Two and a half days left here. Wahhh

I'm blessed by this place.

day five.

I was sick all this morning through the afternoon today. We walked up the hill to CURE Hospital at 8am, so we could do a bible study with the staff there. It was..interesting haha. We sang hymns acappella sitting around a table in a barn type thing. Then, we read scripture and the workers quizzed us haha it was more unique than it sounds. I felt fine during the bible study. Then the ladies in the kitchen cooking needed some help, so Magan, Jenna, and I went and learned how to cut lettuce and helped do that.... that's when I got a little sick heh. I ended up having to walk back down to our house with Sara (core team leader) and I slept until from 9-3:30ish, through lunch and everything. I hated I stayed at the house all day, but after I  woke up I felt so much better. At 3:45 we headed over to Little Lambs after-school care, which I was really happy about since I wasn't able to do anything earlier. I loved Little Lambs! It was so much fun. We got to play with the kids the whole time. The lady in charge is hilarious. We played at least ten games with the kids and everybody and they all were so much fun. The children in the program sang us songs and introduced themselves and told their memory verse for that week.

 One little girl there I absolutely fell in love with was Florence. She is thirteen years old and is in seventh grade. She sat by me in one of the games and all she would do the whole time during the game was play with my hair. She kept telling me she liked my hair and would ask if she could have it haha. I told her I would cut it all off so she could, and she just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. Florence also referred to my hair as "flexible." Hahaha i loved it. I took jumping pictures of her and she absolutely loved it. Towards the end when we were saying bye she had tears in her eyes. She told me she would never forget me, and that's something I will never forget. What breaks my heart even more is that I really didn't do anything special... I loved her, that was it. I played with her. And I simply cared. We take that for granted a lot at home. I ended up giving her a leather bracelet that had my name "HANNAH" carved in it. To make sure she really doesn't ever forget me. She was extremely excited about that, especially since a lot of the kids there all ask for our bracelets on our wrists. After we left Little Lambs, we came home and rested and ate dinner. Tonight is Harmony's birthday so we get real chocolate cake and brownies. YAY. Tomorrow is safari too! eeeeek

 Florence and I

 Florence

  Florence and I

  Florence and I

 Duncan and I

  Florence, Duncan, and I

day four.

This morning my throat was hurting when I woke up, and I think I have the cold everybody in the house has had. I was able to do my devotion sitting in a chair that overlooked the whole Rift Valley. It was beautiful.

We headed over to IDP after breakfast. We got there earlier than we did the last time we went, so the kids were still in school. A little girl Lindsey was holding, named Beyonce, had her little brother there with her. He wouldn't say a word or smile the whole time. No one knows his name, not even the teachers. People in our group said him and his sister don't go to school at IDP, they just live in one of the houses. They are too young to be in school. After someone who was holding him put him down, he came to me for me to pick him up and hold him, and for the rest of the time he was attached to my hip. It broke my heart. Even while I was holding him, trying to get him to smile, tickling him, playing with him, he wouldn't smile. Not even a little bit. He broke my heart by how sad he looked. His pants were at least two sizes too big for him. They were somehow sewed or tied to fit his waist, and was very noticeable. His shirt was two sizes too small, which is probably worse than being two sizes too big. Over his shirt, he was wearing a pink and purple little girls jacket that was too small for him too. Him and his sister weren't in school there, so they weren't allowed to eat the porridge being served to all of the other kids. That tore. me. to. pieces. Beyonce looks about four or five years old. I'm not sure if she is not in school because she is too young, or because she has to take care of her little brother. 

While at IDP, one little girl randomly started petting my hair. As soon as the others saw they ran up to me and started petting my hair too. Then they all started braiding my hair. hahaha my tender headed was not happy, but they were too precious to tell them to stop. While my hair was being braided, I was talking to the little boy I had been holding all day, and was still working on getting him to laugh. FINALLY I got a teeeeny tiny smile and giggle out of him when I tickled him. It was exciting to see. I ended up letting him down for a second because I had been holding him a while at that point. As soon as I let him down he pulled his pants and undies straight down and peed for probably a minute straight. I promise I really think he was holding it in, trying not to pee on me. haha..... because another little boy there peed on this guy Matt twice while he was there. So I guess that's a good thing it didn't happen to me haha. After he finished, I held him in my lap and hugged on him, kissed him, and cuddled him up in my arms sitting down. I also poured some of the water out of my water bottle onto his feet to wash off some of the pee that got on his feet. With any kid in America, I never would have held him if he had pee on his feet and pants. But with this little boy, I didn't care. I couldn't. When we left, I was on the verge of tears. Especially when we were pulling away in the car.. becuase this little boy who would hardly smile, and wouldn't say a word started waving at us and jumping up and down!!!!?! My heart broke leaving this little boy. 

 ian

 they like to braid white girl hair hahahah

We went to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch back at NV with the rest of the group. Then group B ended up going back to IDP so that Joseph (one of the guys at IDP who has been there since  2008... he is in charge of a lot there) could tell us the story of how IDP came about. 

At IDP, there are rows and rows of cinderblock houses that are about the size of a kitchen, probably smaller. It looks like a little neighborhood of all of the same houses. IDP's story is such a God-thing. We had the opportunity to go into Joseph's home. He shared the awesome story of how IDP began. He is in charge of a lot at IDP. He explained to us how IDP began in 2008 when the presidential elections were going on. In Africa, the elections cause so much violence, and cause hundreds and thousands of murders. I can't remember which country these people came from, but the government in their country wanted them to leave to the point where they paid for a bus to drive them to a field 8 hours away from their country.. to Maai-Maau, Kenya. They purchased land to sleep on. There were at least 200 families who came to Kijabe. Remember how many kids Africans tend to have on average. These people slept on the bare ground for two weeks. They had no clothes, no food, no personal items. Absolutely nothing. After two weeks of sleeping on bare ground, the government gave each family 1-2 tents. [These aren't like tents in America that keep water and bugs out... Africa also tends to be really windy at night... so they would wake up many nights with the tents blown away.] After a year of sleeping in the field with all of these tents, a group of Americans were driving down the main road in Maai-Maau and saw the people gathered. They thought it was some sort of party or get together, so they went to check it out. They soon found out that this was no party... this was these peoples homes, their lives. They made friends with these people at IDP. Take a guess at WHO these people happened to be.... PEOPLE WORKING WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. Without saying a word to the people at IDP, the group returned to America. A few weeks later, the people with Habitat returned to the field in Kijabe. They told the IDP families their plan. They wanted to build a house for each family there. For free. Like how funny is God?! That he sends people to Maai-Maau, Kenya.. in the middle of NOTHING, that these guys with Habitat are driving down the road and see hundreds of people they don't know and tents gathered everywhere, and they want to go check it out because they think it's a party? Things like that don't JUST HAPPEN. Every word that came out of Joseph's mouth was praise to God for all that has happened the past 5 years. every. single. word. Slap in the face. 

the houses at IDP.

When Joseph finished telling us the story, he showed us around some, and then we walked back to Naomi's again. The rest of the time at Naomi's, we helped Ann (NV worker) shuck the vegetables for the kids' dinner, and then we went back to the house.

new season.

I just realized today is June 4th. Exactly one year ago today, my world fell apart.. so I thought. Looking back over the past year, that day has impacted me in so many ways, and has taught me more than any words could ever explain. It was the beginning of a new journey for me and a new season in my life. If only I could have somehow told myself that day, that a year from that exact day I would be filled with so much joy, so many new friendships and people investing into my life, so much encouragement, advice, and wisdom. It's in the solitude that God speaks to us best. And he spoke to me during those months. But starting that day exactly one year ago, I had two choices. I could either obey God, or I could disobey Him. I knew what He wanted me to do,  I just didn't whole heartedly trust in Him that he would take care of me. But still, He did. It's crazy thinking about how PERFECT His timing is, and to think that if I had disobeyed, I wouldn't be here in Africa right now. I wouldn't have surrendered my life to Him December 9th, 2012. There are so many things I wouldn't have gotten to experience by disobeying Him! But I obeyed. And I'm here. in AFRICA. And my heart is happier than it has been in longer than I can remember. God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

"I shudder to think of what all I have missed in life because of my disobedience."