6-30, Day 14: orphans and Holy Cows

Breakfast: two cups of coffee and some pineapple!
Shared today, that was great! Went to Kitale to visit with pastor Titus’s family, and I got to take a pic or two of Titus’s daughter Joy. Jim drove us there. I’m quite surprised at his driving skills, considering how crazy these drivers are over here. There was a few times (on the hour+ long trip to Kitale) that we had to stop the van in the middle of the road thanks to a chicken, cow or goat in the street.
Back to Titus-
I didn’t know that Titus had orphans staying with him (Similar to Fred and Ruth). There are 42 orphans placed in about 12 different homes, including his own, that he helps take care of. The orphans are housed and cared for by different caretakers, who are usually elderly and widowed women. Titus introduced us to Benson and Rhoda, a husband and wife with 3 children of their own, who inherited a large piece of property from Benson’s grandfather. They are in the process of being certified by the government to house a bunch of kids- they intend on having all 42 orphans stay at their house.
Titus also told us about the “Holy Cow” project that is in the works in an effort to help the orphans. The Holy Cow project is an effort to help provide consistant food for the orphans. Titus bought 2 milk cows, and gave them to two different caretakers free of charge. The catch is that the first calf born of each cow needs to go back to Titus. Those calves will then be given to two other caretakers, who will give up their first calves to Titus, and so on and so forth. After the first calf has been given back, and caretakers are free to keep the cow and the other calves born from it. The cows ensure that the orphans get some kind of food that day, as there are days where a child will go hungry due to a shortage of food or funds to buy the food.
Titus was asked by one of our teammates if someone from America could sponsor a child, and Titus told us that this was not possible. Having only one orphan get sponsored out of many will create problems between that child and the other orphans, which in Kenya can be worse than going a day without food. The best solution is for someone to donate toward helping all of the children, but most people won’t spend their money on a group of kids; only one.
Titus drove us through Kitale, and took us to meet some of the caretakers of the orphans, and to see one of the two holy cows. The team got so dirty! It rained (hard) while we were driving, and only a few of us remembered to bring our rain coats with us that day (myself being one of them.) so we walked through the rain (which is fun, I loved that!) on paths that were laden with mud and water. The children got a chuckle out of the way some of the “elders” on our team were slipping and sliding around on the mud! Most of the kids were running barefoot through it. We journeyed into a church, said hello to many people, shook many hands, thanked many strangers, and prayed over all of the orphans. By then, the rain had settled down to a slight sprinkle and we walked more mud filled paths to visit the holy cow! Along the way we saw many beautifully decorated huts. The kids all wanted to hold our hands, and were trying to talk to us even though we couldn’t understand a word they said. The women stuck close to our sides, making sure that the kids stayed well behaved, telling us stories along the way about our surroundings. It was like being in a whole different world! I love how the different parts of Kenya are so unique!!! Driving back to Titus’s house was fun. As previously said, the roads are made out of dirt- so the wet muddy roads caused the van to slip and slide in every which way when we were trying to get back to Titus’s house for lunch! When we got back to his house, there was a buffet of food on the table. His wife, kids, and extended family and friends had worked for hours to ensure that we would have plenty of food to eat. The rain started again while we were there, and when it hit the metal roof it sounded so loud that it was hard to hold a conversation with the person sitting right next to you! The Chapati, beef, pasta, rice, potatoes, and “soup” were all delicious and left our whole team feeling very satisfied.
Before heading back home (to camp), we stopped by Titus’ store. Sharon and Brad got to pick one free item from his store to take back to the US. (they were scheduled to leave soon). I ended up buying a few things from them, too! We also stopped by the office before going home. Heading there was an adventure, and police were trying to ask us where we were going but couldn’t speak English very well so they ended up shaking some hands, smiling, and waving us right on through!
Later I went with a few teammates to go into town and e-mail my family. I always love getting letters from people here. Tonight I got to experience driving at night- and boy is that an adventure! It was kind of scary the way the cars whiz by you like your NOT a huge van that they can crash into. I should also let you know- driving at night there is especially scary because they think that NOT using their headlights will save them power in their vehicles, so they don’t use their headlights unless they think they see something worth turning them on for.
Came home- had dinner (a ghoulash thing with bread and butter). Helped dry the dishes, played with Shelly, Simba, and Jack… watched as teammates tried to set brad up with someone… again… Got to CALL my family. That was the highlight of my evening. I felt bad though because the phone card only had 5 mintues on it and I involuntarily hung up on my parents after getting so say “hi, I love you!” I was glad for bed tonight, it was a good, long day!