Work was just work. Time with local folks was worth having made the trip to me. Among the truly nice people of the world, my friends welcome me back and make a place for me in their homes and lives despite truly difficult circumstances.
Three more kids for a little help getting in school. Uniforms and fees to start. A trip to the hospital for one of them. They bring our group to 37 kids this semester.
Ever notice how folks who have the least are often the most giving? Or that folks who have the most difficult lives are the most likely to stop and land a hand?
After making the trek across Africa - Sao Tome & Principe, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya - I wonder why the wealthy are so often full of themselves while the poor encompass nobility and generosity. It's not just in Africa, of course. It was the same all those years when we lived in Spain and wandered across Europe.
The phone rang this morning as I sat at my office in Maryland. It was dear Salma. It costs just pennies to call the States from Kenya. She'd called just to say hello and thank you. She's become like a sister to me. The times we've had to sit and talk have been family time.
OK so minutes later, the phone rings again, and it's Salma again and you can hear her family laughing in the background; she says, "Anderson wants to say hello to his friend." Ha! So 3-year old Anderson gets on the phone and laughs and says something incomprehensible in Swahili, perhaps, and I ask him if he's being a good boy and he laughs and you can hear Salma and her sister and mom and grandmother laughing along with him. Marilyn says I got a grandpa call from Kenya!
SUMMER '11 UPDATE: The rainy season was inadequate. The drought has set in. Millions face starvation in the region. Our friends and their children there are at risk, and we have little effective access to their community.
Scrambling for funds for the access we do have. Keeping them in school gets them one meal a day at the government school. It's just maize meal, but it'll keep them alive.
