Hello Friends:
On this Valentine weekend, Valerie and I want you to know that we love you very much. I didn’t write last night because we fell into bed right after dinner. We were very tired, so I am up at 3am writing to you.
SHIKUSA BOYS DETENTION CENTER
What a day we had yesterday. We just had back to back medical camps with the Northwest University Nursing students. We had one at the widow’s center and one at the Shikusa Boys detention center. Actually the one yesterday with the boys was a very easy camp. Our team examined about 120 boys of the 360 boys in the center, but most of them were fairly healthy. The truth is; I think that many of them just wanted to be examined by some pretty girls from the U.S.! Boys will be boys all over the world! We had a wonderful time with the boys. When we were sharing Valerie asked the boys how many of them had committed their lives to Jesus and about 2/3rds of them raised their hands. It’s always a blessing to visit a rehab system that is really working. The boys were really excited because one of our contributors had given some money to improve the sports program at the Center. All the material are now on the site to resurface the basketball court, put up new backboards and install new volleyball standards. The court was installed 5 years ago, but the work was not done very well. The resurfacing of the new court will be supervised by a professional from town, but the boys will do it themselves. The boys are very good at sports and it really is a vital part of their lives. Over the last 6 years WorldCOMP has done an enormous amount of things to improve the lives of the boys, in areas of health, education, recreation and of course, their Spiritual lives. At our briefing last night, the Northwest Nurses expressed how touched they were by meeting and ministering to the boys.
THE HOME FOR DEAF CHILDREN
On our way home we stopped and visited one our latest projects; a home for deaf children just outside of Kakamega. As we drove down the driveway through the big arched gate, the kids all ran to our van with great excitement. It was Saturday, so they were all out on the compound in their play clothes. There are 68 children here and they are the sweetest kids in the world. The sad thing is they are part of a vast sea of forgotten and forsaken children here in Kenya. Last month when we visited the center the headmaster told us that the government had informed them that they were out of money for the time being and the center would have to fend for itself for the care and feeding of the kids. We visited the kitchen and the cook told us that all they had for dinner was tea and porridge, without sugar. We were so touched as we visited these kids, so we decided that our WorldCOMP team in Kakamega will visit them and bring them some food every week. On our way to the visit the kids we stopped at a local market and bought 200 pounds of beans. I couldn’t believe it when Mesheck and two local boys carried this huge bag to the roof of our van. We had such a fun time with the kids. Several of the NWU girls were proficient at sign language. One of the nurses had brought 50 little bags of candy and little Valentine stickers for the back of their hands. All the kids wanted to pose for pictures and they laughed as we showed them their faces on our camera screens. Tomorrow we will drop by again, after church because they all begged us to bring them some bread. They haven’t had any for a long time.
Today, we visit the Kakamegatown Church, our home away from home here in Kenya, and it’s always a special time.
Thanks for following us in our journey. I know I have written a lot and I hope you are not weary of all of my letters.
Valerie and I are both feeling very good and things are going very well. We can feel that we are being sustained by prayer. Thank you so much for that.
All our love,
Richard