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“There is a time to come and a time to leave” from Ecclesiastes (sort of) - and this is our time to go – after four months of living with and trying to serve some of the least of HIS children in Kenya.
It was wonderful to visit St. John Bosco Children’s Centre in Kitale again. We especially enjoyed being
there on Parents’ Day, when young Turkana dancers entertained everyone. We also enjoyed traveling
many miles to the five schools of the 26 students sponsored by St. John Church in Darien, CT. Please see
www.boscokenya.org for more about this great program.
While in Kitale, we made a couple of side trips – first, to Mt. Elgon to see hundreds of bats in two huge caves (where the Eboli virus is said to have originated) – and next, to Saiwa Swamp, where we actually saw a couple of the elusive Sitatonga antelopes, with their elongated splayed hooves that enable them to walk in this papyrus wetland.
It was great to have John’s daughter, Betsy and her friend Jennifer, from Rowayton, CT, with us for a few
days. They toured Meru on foot, fed babies at Ripples’ New Start, met a couple of young women students
at Meru University, saw St. Clare Girls’ and St. Francis’ Boys’ Schools, helped the girls at Ripples’ Tumaini
Centre with their artwork, visited the home of a girl in Ripples’ Chemi Chemi program – and enjoyed a
wonderful Festive Kenyan Dinner in the home of Jennifer and Jeffrey (he’s our Meru taxi driver).
We spent our last Saturday in Meru with six Ripples’ Chemi Chemi students – three of whom are HIV+,
four of whom have parents who are positive, and two of whom have parents who have died. They had
fun making scrapbooks with the photos they had taken a couple of months ago – and then they enjoyed
having lunch together. To learn more about the work that Ripples Intl. does for the least of HIS
children, please see www.ripplesintl.or.ke.
When we open our eyes,
we open our minds;
when we open our minds,
we open our hearts;
When we open your hearts,
we live with dignity;
when we live with dignity,
we share divine life;
when we share divine life,
we can build a community of love;
when we build a community of love,
we enter eternity;
when we enter eternity,
nothing can harm us;
when nothing can harm us,
we will live forever,
even now in this present moment.
~Maryknoll
Bosco Dance Troup
When Home is a Swamp
A Nite Out in Meru
Chimi Chimi Friends