Arrival at last

I really don’t think the reality of my trip hit me before I got on the plane in Heathrow, headed towards Nairobi. I had first heard about Into Abbas Arms (IAA) from my friend Sara Crabtree. She explained how she’d heard of IAA through her church and made her first trip to the orphanage last summer, and I knew that I had to try to make a trip of my own to meet all the kids who live here.

I was blessed more than I’d ever imagined was possible, and the trip fell into place rather smoothly. With the help of a great deal of friends and family, on June second, I found myself on the long journey to Into Abbas Arms orphanage in Kinangop, Kenya. Leaving LAX early Wednesday morning, I touched ground in Nairobi at 9p.m. Thursday night. I’d met up with Sara (who is here making her second visit to the orphanage) and our friend Kristen Klein, and the three of us were picked up by Alex and Christine who took us to the Mayfield missionary hotel there in the city.

Early the next morning, we headed towards the orphanage. Upon our arrival, all the toddlers came to greet us, as well as three other girls who are here volunteering as well. The place was a bit of a mad house that night. When the older kids got home from school that evening, everyone was so excited with all the new people, but we did manage to get to bed early (a welcome relief as jetlag was setting in).

Now, a week after my departure, I’m thrilled to be getting to know all the kids and the amazing women and men who work here on the orphanage, giving all they can to be a blessing in these kids’ lives. There are just over 20 kids who live here, with more who are away at boarding school. The kids living on site include three babies: Jacob, Hope, and Joy, as well as a group of several loud toddlers and a bunch more who are in elementary school. Once the kids have reached sixth grade, they’re sent to boarding school until their month-long “offs”. Fortunately, we were able to meet most of the boarders this past weekend when they came for a special visit.

Due to the special weekend visit, no one had school on Saturday. Generally, the toddlers have the day off and the older kids have class until one. (I can’t believe it; the elementary kids go from 8 in the morning until 5 at night, and the toddlers have school from about 8:30 until around 2. Talk about long days.) But since everyone had the day off, we spent the afternoon playing outside.

There’s a church on site, and on Sunday a host of village kids came for a couple hours of energetic singing, learning about scripture, and giving testimonies. I’ve never seen such excitement about God. That afternoon, I spent lots of time with baby Jacob, and Jeremy – another visitor to the site – started up a soccer game with all the kids who’d come for church. (I had a good time getting showed up by kids half my height.) Then, for dinner on Sunday night I had some goat, ugali, and greens with the kids – and after some story telling and drawing with the girls it was time for the end to a very good, long day.

The last few days have involved lots of helping out at the nursery school, entertaining the babies, dishes, homework help, and a trip to the Masai market in Nairobi. The city was insane – I’ve never seen such bad traffic. And combined with roundabouts, road laws which are a lot more like “suggestions”, and way too many pedestrians, it was a little nerve racking to drive through. But after a long day of bartering it was a big relief to come back and see the kids.

Today, a medical team from Houston arrived to set up at the site. They’re commuting from Nairobi for the next few days to provide services for whoever in the surrounding areas decides to show up, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.

Overall, my time here in Kenya has been incredible thus far. I love being with the kids I’m growing to love so much, and really, I couldn’t be any more blessed.