On Friday we took classes 4 and 5 on a field trip. The day was a bit overstimulating for the girls but I wouldn’t have traded that day for the world. We took two busses full of girls to Kisumu, a larger town about 4 hours drive from Enoosaen. Now I want you to picture 70 girls, who rarely ride in vehicles at all, on large busses, at 5am, going down roads that are, in my opinion, meant for extreme off roading. Yup! You guessed it! Vomit city!!!! I had one travel pack of wet wipes. I don’t think I have ever felt such a lack of resources as I did that morning. But leave it to the girls to prevail in the face of peril! Those sweet little things hadn’t slept all night in anticipation of the day, and they weren’t going to let a little vomit stop them from having fun. They simply opened the windows, stuck their heads outside for fresh air, and dealt with it for another 45 minutes until we got to the paved roads. No whining, no crying, just a simple determination not to let some so trivial bother them. I gave one of the girls a Tums and you would have thought that I saved her life after her heart stopped. The girls are completely hilarious at times! I legitimately wish all of you could be here to share this with me and FEEL the smiles that these girls can bring to your face. I was sitting with a young girl named Naanyu for the entire trip, and spent most of the day with her walking hand in hand. When Naanyu was young, there was a tragic turn of events in her life. In a fit of rage, her father murdered her mother. He then fled the village and nobody knows what has ever happened to him. Abandoned, the grandparents of the children came forward and took them all in. Naanyu has been given a full scholarship to Kakenya’s school because of the fact that she is an orphan and also due to the very limited means for the family to provide for these children. In spite of all that has happened to her, she smiles incessantly. She is excited on a daily basis and simply happy to be alive and breathing each and every day. I know many people who could learn a lesson or two from this young lady. Once the ride was a bit smoother, Naanyu said to me, “Look at the smooth roads! They are so beautiful!” It was then that I asked her to tell me every single time she noticed something she had never seen before. She agreed and I waited, journal in hand, to record all of the things that she would be excited about. Things on the bus settled down a bit, but only to a dull roar. They were talking and singing, and chanting and so excited for the day. It made me remember what it was like to be that age and get to do something special. I remembered going on family vacations, visiting places I had never been, seeing things I had never seen. Even last fall, when I visited New York City, I was just as excited about it as these girls were about this trip. I was talking to her about getting to see Lake Victoria and she told me that she had never seen it before. Turns out that almost every one of the girls on the trip had never seen it before, so I knew we were in for a treat once that was in view. Having grown up on the shores of Lake Michigan, seeing a large body of water is nothing new to me, but to these girls – who rarely leave the rural village they live in – it was a rare treat indeed. A song came over the radio and suddenly, ALL of the girls started chanting a song in the Maasai language. It is a song about worshipping God and the joy he brings to your heart and just as they were really getting into this song, we crested a hill and saw Lake Victoria. Shrieks, gasps, exclamations and shrills escaped their mouths as they looked in awe at something they have never seen before. Naanyu turned around to me and with extreme elation, almost as if she had seen the face of God, look at me and said, Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in your life?” I laughed with her and then she proceeded to tell me that she was going to fill her water bottle with the water of the lake so she could take a part of it back to school with her. The thought ran through my mind that she would cherish this water much the same way Christians cherish holy water from the River Jordan. Or the way my cousin put seaweed in her purse the first time she ever saw Lake Michigan. People just make me smile – it’s that simple. When we got to the city, Naanyu reveled to me that she had never seen a roundabout, a building taller than two stories, a railroad line, a wind sock, an airport, an airplane, or an animal sanctuary (other than in the wild.) I was reminded of a student I once taught that had never left Newaygo County in her entire life, and she had never been to a McDonald’s. I was so intrigued by that fact, that I made it a point to take her to the museum in Grand Rapids, and to McDonald’s for lunch. If any of you ever want to see wonderment in it’s purest form, take a child to see something they have never seen before. It doesn’t have to be something grand, but something that they would find exciting. Delight will fill their heart and soul and the palpitations will spill over into yours, and the next person, and the next person, and the next person, like a champagne pyramid. God has blessed my soul by allowing me to spend time with these girls. It is my prayer that all of you have these kind of moments with young children in your lives. Incidentally, for those of you who have read my blogs from the beginning, you will recall that one of the first girls I met at the school gave me a hug straight away. That girl was Naanyu, and she is lovely.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:09:00 +0000
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