Naomi and Esther

You can anticipate all the things you would like to do before heading to such a place as the Mathare Valley, but you can never know just how you might make a difference in another person's life. Unexpected things happen. I brought two photo albums with me to Kenya: one to give to Anthony, the boy my family sponsors, and one to share with students and others that I meet about my family and life in America. Both albums were duplicates and I had slipped one photo into them only due to thinking that Anthony might be the boy in the back of a photo. The photo was a silly one I took three years ago at the Bondeni School and showed a funny bathroom pass around a girl's neck.

On the first Sunday in Kenya this year, we traveled to the Joska boys and girls schools for students in the fifth through 12th grade. It is boarding school and now the two schools are separate from each other by a 10-15 minute bumpy van ride. We first went to the girl's school for a worship service. The singing got a little rowdy as the girls pulled off their ties and waved them around. I was noticing some familiar faces as I looked around. Here were some of the girls I had taught at the Bondeni School three years ago sitting in the row directly behind me. I was handed one of the girl's ties to wave around as I got into the fun!

I pulled out my photo album a little while later when the singing had stopped and showed a couple of the girls photos I had brought that had their pictures in them. One was the girl with the bathroom pass. You can see her in the above video very briefly on the right side (as I am facing the row of girls).

5 Red Girl out for Biological Nature Call

 She was giggling and amazed that I had here photo (she wasn't the only one). After the service I got together with the girls and talked with them with the short time that we had. Here is a photo of Naomi and me holding the photo from three years earlier.

That was fun and I really was thrilled to have met my former students. As we were in our bus a short while later to go visit the boy's school, Naomi came up to my window and asked if I was going to come back. I had to say, "No, but three of my teacher friends will be staying at Joska for the week while I return to the Mathare Valley to teach at the Area 2 School for the week." She told me to look for her mother. At first I thought this was silly as hundreds of thousands of people live in the Mathare Valley and how could I find her mother in all that humanity? She then told me that her mother, Esther, was the cook at the Area 2 School.

Of course one of the first things I did after showing up at the Area 2 School was to look for Esther. I saw a women right away in the "kitchen" (a small room down some steps) and she had the biggest smile in the Mathare Valley. I asked one of the social workers if this was indeed Esther, the mother of Naomi, and I was told yes and that we could be introduced.

I told her about meeting her daughter again three years after meeting her at Bondeni and gave her the second picture of Naomi. I was told Naomi had a twin brother at the Joska boy's school. For the rest of the week, Esther had gigantic smiles for me and I hoped that I had made her week by connecting with her and her daughter. I also observed how hard Esther worked at the school throughout the week. Not only was she the cook, but she would water down and mop the classrooms and walkways throughout the day and empty the trash bins. I think she was also the janitor and "do everything" person. On the last day she was organizing plastic chairs to bring down the treacherous steps to the new school. I was able to take the last bunch of chairs to carry down for her and relieve her of that duty. She did everything with a smile. One thing I have learned is how hard the people of Mathare Valley are willing to work and to serve their community and the joy that they have knowing that they are a small part of the success of Missions of Hope.

At the end of the week, when my three Joska teammates got back from Joska, I was handed a few notes from these girls I had met. Here is the note from Naomi.

 I don't think meeting Naomi again was a coincidence. I hoped meeting her encouraged and cheered her and her mother up, as much as it did for me!

By the way, the photos with me in a bow tie are sort of a joke, the only reason I can see to wear any sort of tie is to take it off and wave it around in the air while singing a song!

Inspired by of one of the poems "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams that I used to teach poetry writing while at the Area 2 School. I wrote a new poem.

The Bathroom Pass

So much depends 

upon

a bathroom 

pass

written in red

pen

around a girl's 

neck