Africa

Getting the opportunity to go to Kenya with Caris Foundation was absolutely a highlight of my life.

It took us 36 hours to get there and when we got there they greeted us with an amazing song and dance to welcome us.

Every friday they do a Bible study together where they talk about one verse and everyone goes around and says what they think the verse means and what it means to them.

Meeting everyone was just such an honor and getting to hear their hearts was so incredible.

Then we went out into the field and met some of the girls in the TTG groups (finance groups) where they are learning how to support their families with different types of jobs, save their money and pay back the small loans Caris has given them.  They loan money to each other and work together to support themselves and each other.  It is just incredible.

They are also learning to read and write.  One of the girls who Caris has taught to read volunteers her time to come and teach the ladies who can stay after their TTG groups meet every week.

This is Elda.  She is an amazing woman and I am so grateful to have met her.  She grows these crops and sells them in the marketplace.  She has rented a pump and dug ditches for pipes to pump the water from a near by river to her crops. I can not imagine doing that much work every day.  She is saving to by her own pump so she can rent it to other people and make money off of that.

Next to her is Edward who is in charge of the ag section at Caris and is helping her with any problems she has with her crops.

We also got to be a part of their end of year dinner and it was just a blast.  Everyone in Africa knows how to party and sing and dance and it was so much fun getting to see all that they do at work and also how much fun they have together outside of work.

The last day we were there was the celebration for all the women in the Caris programs.

They all walked from wherever they live, it could be miles away, and celebrated all that they have accomplished this year.  Caris gave out awards to TTG groups, to individuals who had saved the most money or made the most or grew the most crops, etc.  It was so much fun watching them recognized for all of their hard work and watch them just have fun together.

It started the moment we got out of the car.  They knew mom and Christopher were in charge and they just ran to the car and danced them to the ceremony.  It was the best entrance I have ever had for sure.

This is Mom with one of the original single moms that went through the caris program and has now graduated from the program and supporting herself and her family.

They even had an awesome Photo Booth that we took advantage of on our way out.  We didnt get to stay for the whole dinner because we had to get catch our flight.

We made it in the nick of time and flew to Nairobi where we had dinner at a fun restaurant and processed the trip.  They happened to be hosting a party for someone famous and there were camera crews outside doing interviews.  We felt a little under dressed but luckily no one noticed and we got to go in anyway.

 I taught Christopher to knit and he made a hat on the way home and to say I was excited was definitely an understatement.