The school assembly takes place in front of the house with the singing of the National anthem and an opening prayer. It is an impressive sight to see around 180 students dressed in maroon and Navy uniforms. The lower grades are in grey and maroon uniforms.
As I stood on the steps of Kenyatta house I was reminded of a very special blessing in Ethiopia. The children with their teachers, the mamas and assistants marched single file to greet us in the gazebo to say "thank you." These 4-5 year olds and a few 7 year olds recited the Apostle's Creed in understandable English. Then they sang, "I decided to Follow Jesus" in English and then in their native language.
This afternoon, also was one of the times that make this all worthwhile. Several of the students will be writing National exams next week. These exams will determine which colleges they will attend. They assembled in front of Kenyatta house for prayer. The younger students prayed for the older, cheering them on as they prepare to take the exams. These are the 8th grade day students who come from the surrounding villages. The Rafiki children are still too young and most are in the 4-6 grades. Most of the day students come from very poor or difficult circumstances. Some of the students are 18-22 years old. The chance for an education is very important to them.
The head teacher was in the clinic this morning with a bunch of sandpaper. It is traditional for the students to go to the place where they will write the exams and sandpaper the desk to make sure no one left any notes for cheating. Apparently if one is caught cheating the whole class fails.
Elaine and I are busy in the clinic. We have busy days tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning we head for home. This is the largest group of children. There are 97 children here plus about 87 day students. The majority of the boys were seen by another mini missionary doctor. We are mainly doing the girls and several new arrivals, one just came this last Tuesday. This afternoon Elaine gave the young girls a talk on Love, Sex and Infatuation.
We are enjoying some relaxing time and will be heading for dinner with one of the ROS couples in about a half an hour. Tomorrow, we plan to go into Nairobi to do a little shopping in the afternoon.
We received notice that we need use water sparingly as they are fixing some water lines in the city. It is affecting 80% of the city. We have water but must be careful. We stored up extra water last night. No shower tonight.
The rains have started and everything is green and beautiful in the Village. It is much cooler than I expected. I guess God is preparing me for the weather change when I get home.
It's hard to believe that we are in the home stretch.
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