Let me continue telling you about the rest of my time in Pokot, day by day! (Because His mercies are NEW EACH and EVERY morning!) I know it’s a month late, but I hope you enjoy! This continues the journey as if it’s happening in real time 🙂
As I mentioned in the last blog, Thursday morning we got a call from Joram saying the girl could go back to school if that’s what she wanted.
Of course, we went and spoke with her this Thursday morning and told her the news. We told her it would be a lot of work to catch up, but that she could do it. She was worried about being beaten by the teachers, which is something that won’t be able to be avoided (physical punishment is an everyday thing in schools here). Before all of this, we had planned to be at the school she attends on Tuesday to encourage some of the sponsored girls. So, we will see if she ends up going back.
Later in the day we took about a 40-minute moto ride to a church that was built about 4 months ago. A pre-school is also being held here throughout the week. Unfortunately, today the teacher had to be at a meeting, so we weren’t able to see the pre-school in action.
Some of the church members greeted us!
The day continued and we went about 15 minutes down the road to the river. On Sunday the church is going to be having baptisms at the river and we were helping scope out a location for these. While there, we met a girl named Faith who knows Joram. She showed us around and then we enjoyed lunch of nyama choma (basically grilled meat— and in this case: goat). It was a market day, so everybody was out and about.
We returned home, rested and got to cooking dinner. Today I cooked ugali on the fire almost completely on my own. I was super pleased and happy! They keep joking that they want to give me a pokot name and that I need to obtain a Kenyan ID.
Friday- We left Pastor Korikin’s house, but not before having breakfast and meeting up with visitors. I had met some of these people before because some of them are the ones who showed the Jesus film when I helped with the women’s conference in April. We connected again and we got to have some more meaningful conversations. I have a feeling our paths will cross again in the near future. Additionally, I met a man from America who goes around and films about different areas and is passionate about human trafficking. God never misses opportunities to connect people and I’m glad all these connections happened today.
We took an hour and half motorcycle ride to Kepeni and were welcomed by all the preschool kids! We got there a bit late, so they were done with class and taking porridge for the day. We took pictures with them, and some remembered me.
We rested for some time at the preschool and the teacher (Maniko) brought us some maize to roast for lunch. After lunch we continued to rest until Maniko came back to get us for dinner.
We went to his humble home and were treated like queens. When it started to rain, the three of us were given the priority of his home (see picture below of Irene in front of their home) while the family cooked. A chicken was slaughtered too. I reflect on this and see how they gave us and went out of their way for us. Yet when we have so much “stuff” in America we seem paralyzed to help others or offer good hospitality. The night ended with us sleeping at the school….with the BATS!
Saturday morning. We were woken up to go to Maniko’s house to take tea. We had tea and roasted corn for breakfast. Then they went out of their way to make me/us a private area to take a shower. They cut down branches and hung sheets.
We then hung out with the kids and shared with them about Noah’s ark. We bonded a lot with the kids during this time and I finally got the one girl who was terrified of me (bawling) to sleep in my lap for 30 minutes.
We had lunch and some ladies dropped by. They were asking me all kinds of questions about America. They gave me a necklace they made and hope that I will come visit their house one day.
After talking with them, we all went down to the river.
The mom’s hung out, braided hair, collected greens for dinner, bathed, and filled their jerry cans. We stayed for a few hours. We went to see the river where they fetch water and bathe. We learned there were about 5 crocodiles living in there.
We arrived back at the school and rested for an hour until we headed back to Maniko’s home for dinner. I had brought some clothes along and handed them out to him and his family and they were thrilled to receive them.
Sunday- We went to Maniko’s house for breakfast. Then we visited another family nearby. I took pictures with my Polaroid camera, and they had a blast with that.
The one mom had a baby 3 weeks ago and she named it Kelly, after me. You never know the impact you will make…
We then sat down with the wives and husband and I shared about the Good Samaritan. They were happy to hear the message and said it can be difficult to “love your enemies” but they would remember this story.
After leaving them we went to the church. Unfortunately, we had taken too long with the women and missed the service. Although we missed church, I fully believe the time with the women was meant to be.
In the afternoon we cleaned the classroom so it would be ready for the kids tomorrow.
We went to Maniko’s for dinner. We got to spend a lot of time with the kids again. I brought glow sticks and thought this would be the perfect night to share them. I wasn’t sure how many would still glow because one of the nights I saw my bag glowing. But it worked out that parts of the glow sticks were still able to be lit.
I turned it into a lesson for the kids—- we are the light of the world, and we are to be different and shine bright. One of the girls that was sitting on my lap had shared hers with another boy who came late. I said this was a perfect example of sharing and loving others well. We ended the night with chicken, rice, and a cup of tea
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Monday- We woke up and went to Maniko’s for our last meal. Today it was just chai. We had breakfast, bathed and went to town. Today was market day and Joram was around so he bought us meat and then we proceeded to the new pre-school he had built. We said hi to the kids, made sure they took porridge then went back to town to pick up our bags. While there, we ran into Irene’s sister, the one I had met on my very first trip to Pokot. We also ran into Newton, the one who had carried me across the river the very first time I came to Pokot. To our surprise, the bridge was now passable by motorcycle!! Praise God we didn’t have to cross the river by foot!
We ended the day with taking pictures at Irene’s house and eating ugali and greens for dinner. Oh! And sleeping under the stars. That is until it rained, and we had to go inside.
Tuesday- I woke up and collected firewood. We had breakfast and then went to the river so Purity could see where they fetch water. Then we showered and headed out for the day.
Today was the day we visited the sponsored girls at Chesta Primary. We had them for like 30 minutes and I talked to them about David and Goliath and facing their fears with confidence. When God is on our side, who do we have to fear? AND GUESS WHAT?! Naomi was BACK!! Praise God!
After that we went to the market and bought vegetables. We had beans and chapati for Irene’s birthday lunch. We went home, rested, repacked, and had dinner.
Wednesday- We celebrated Irene’s birthday with biscuits and lollipops. Yesterday, we tried for at least an hour going to every shop looking for a cake, muffin, or anything that closely resembled that. NOTHING. So, biscuits and lollipops it was! I also joined in the Kenyan tradition of “washing” aka dumping water on the person. Water is precious so I only used a cup of water. But it was worth it!
Purity and I then traveled back to Kitale while Irene stayed behind to work on gathering certificates so she can apply to higher education.
Another Pokot adventure in the books! God is good…all the time.
