It has been a long day, and all four of us feel exhausted. It’s not because we worked so hard, we guess it’s just simply the emotional exhaustion of what we’re taking in. We spent the day at Dickson Children’s Center and also got a tour of Onesiemus Center for Boys. The Children’s Center is an orphanage with 33 kids. Their newest child, Mwangi, is a three year old street boy. His mom had a baby 2 weeks ago or so, and while she was in the hospital, he was on the street by himself - literally. His new baby sister is also under the care of the orphanage, but the director is keeping her at her home, so we didn’t meet her (doggone it!). Today Mwangi’s mom (who lives on the streets and is addicted to glue and other drugs) came to see where he was living. She was very happy to see him being well fed and cared for. It was very sad for us to watch the whole experience. There was another older boy who lives on the streets who came with Mwangi’s mom, Apparently a lot of the street people are worried about little Mwangi, and they wanted to have someone else see him as well, so they can both assure the others on the streets that he is well. It seemed that they were very wise in how they handled the situation, as they want to have strong relationships with these street folks. Hopefully Mwangi’s mom will get some help herself, so she can get free of her addictions and live a productive, joy filled life.
The Onesiemus Center for Boys is a center for street boys from 13 - 20 or so. They are taken off the streets and are taught to be responsible citizens who will contribute to their community someday. It’s a great ministry. While we were getting our tour, a boy came into the office. He had been taken off the streets about 2 weeks ago, and then after a few days of very little freedom, he returned to the streets again. Usually they come back after about a week, and that’s exactly what happened with him. The staff was rejoicing to have him back.
Tomorrow it’s back to our kiddos at Tumaini. We’re looking forward to a great sleep between now and then. Blessings!