Coach Connell's African Adventure: Day 12, 2014

Last night Morris, Joseph and Luka walked me to the hotel in the pitch dark on the dirt and rocky roads. Luka held my hand the whole way so I wouldn't fall since I couldn't see. I then noticed that Morris had a baseball wooden bat and Luka had a club. I asked why and they said to protect me from crazy drunk people. Glad I have these guys! They are my warriors!
Slept the best I have the whole trip. Wish I could hear from the boys climbing. Ate breakfast and Morris came to get me, and we walked the 3/4 mile back to his house. Everyone walks here everywhere. It doesn't matter how far. There is no air conditioning or heating. They don't need it. I checked my email and Facebook. It was good to hear from my Sunday School teacher, Steve, and Dodd Hartness. It makes me feel closer to home. Feel free to comment on the blog. I love hearing from back home.
Today was wash day for Mercy. She has 4 buckets with water. The first two have powdered detergent in them that she hand squeezes the clothes in. Then she squeezes them in the two clear buckets for rinsing. Then she hangs them up on a clothesline. We then walked the 3 miles to Monica's school today. Again as I entered the gate I was surrounded by smiling, hollering children. My heart just fills. We started our rotations again, but as we started it started pouring rain. We all ran inside the school. There are two rooms, so Morris taught word problems in Math, and I read and told stories and sung songs as rain gushed down on the tin roof. Finally, the rain stopped and we all went back outside. But it started pouring again, so we ran to the covered porch of the church next door. We gave out some more of the supplies that the Bright School children sent. The children were so, so happy! We stood on the porch for over an hour waiting on the rain to stop. Then Monica told me she has had this school for 8 years and never named it. She asked could she name it "The Africa Bright School" (ABS). She said since the children of my Bright School sent the children of her school so much she wanted to name it after my school. I said I guess that's alright. So my heart was touched again. Wow! So cool! We now have a sister school in Kenya.
The rain finally let up some, but was still raining some, so we started our long walk home in the rain. All the local children followed us again like the Pied Piper. I was chewing gum and blowing big bubbles. They thought that was hilarious. By the way, I gave all the children at the school today a piece of bubble gum. They loved it. I would pop a big bubble and they would crack up laughing.
Remember the picture I put up yesterday of the little girl and her baby brother...they were not there today. Mercy, Morris's wife, found out where the children lived and went to their home. The mother is pregnant again and works full time in manual labor. Mercy is going to try to get the little girl in school at ABS. Mercy's name is very appropriate.
While she went alone, Morris ran into a worker from his Mother's farm who invited us to his house since it was raining. This man had four children, the oldest being 13. I can't begin to describe his mud hut that was about as big as 10 ft by 10 ft with a dirt floor, a kerosene lantern, and a fire outside for cooking. As we sat there he had his children fix us tea and rock bread. I am crying as I write this, because here was this man with nothing serving me the little he had. I don't have much money right now, while Gordon is gone, but I took 200 shillings ($1.00 = 100 shillings) and gave it to the man. He was so grateful! Morris said he could buy much with it.
Mercy joined back up with us, and we walked back down the now rainy muddy dirt road with little streams of water running everywhere. It was Market Day in the slums and everyone was out on the grounds with their cabbages, charcoal, potatoes, mangos, etc for sale. These children are so dirty and their clothes are full of holes and their shoes, if they have any, are ripped and torn. So sad. Finally, got back to Morris's school with my two warriors holding my arms on both sides. Thank you Joseph with glasses and Kevin.
There is a plywood factory in Elburgon. Morris said it is good and bad. Good because it gives jobs to the people in the slums, bad because it is cutting down all their forests. Good connection on the Internet and was able to chat with Anna on Facebook. Then Morris fixed it where we could FaceTime. She was getting her hair cut and colored, so all the girls there got to hear us talk. That was great, because she got to meet Morris and Luka. Then we went to Morris's house to eat Samosa and dinner. Finally back to the hotel. I'm ready for bed. Oh, I forgot to mention the children want to touch my skin and my hair. They are fascinated by skin and hair. Also, I felt sorry for all of Mercy's clothes she had washed since they got soaked during the rain. Se said no, it's ok, they got a second rinse. Ha ha!