Faces Of Kenya: Huruma Childrens Home July 2011

On July 25th Ralyne and I embarked on a wonderful adventure
to Huruma Childrens Home in the Ngong Hills area just southwest of
Nairobi, Kenya. The home was founded by Mama Zipporah
and she is still the big heart that loves the 150+ children who
have been entrusted to her care. These children have been
abandoned, orphaned, abused and discarded.

We arrived Sunday morning around 8am
and were greeted at the gate by all the
children, waving and yelling. As soon as
we got off the bus, we were all mauled by
the mass of smiling faces. What gorgeous
faces and I am struck by those wonderful
smiles. They all wanted to be hugged and
and I don't think I missed a one. Now I
know what being a celebrity must be like.
Screaming, excited kids who just want to
be touched. It was a feeling that I will
never forget...

After our initial greeting we settled in with
our quarters and were rushed over to the
chapel for Sunday services. What a joyful
experience this was. To watch all the kids, some taking leadership roles, involved with their voices and bodies. I'm sure their wasn't a dry eye from all 17 of our group who went. I know mine weren't.
What wonderful worship all checking us out and listening intently to what was going on. After service, we lined up and got the greeting hugs and spent most of the afternoon taking photos and getting the grand tours of the classrooms and dormitories.

The routine for the 14 days that we were there were much the
same pattern. Wake up at 6, grab a piece of toast with peanut
butter and of course, the world class cup of Kenyan coffee...
go to chapel service with the kids at 7:30 for an hour and then
while the kids were in school, work on some of the many
projects that needed to be done. The four males in our group,

worked on removing the supporting beams in the new
dormitories that are being built. This required three
days for four of us. Some of the days, we had other
members of our group join in and help. Shadrack and
Peter, two paid employees, joined in when they could.
It was fun to see some progress getting the dorms
partially cleaned out for the next step.

Most of our group participated in a two day VBS for the
smaller children up through age 13. They had crafts,
Bible studies, games and fun. This was about
100 kids strong.

The following week we rewarded the older students
(14 and older) to a trip to an area called Hells Gate.
It is a very small version of our Grand Canyon.
Where all the kids hiked down and back in about

a couple of hours. We had 99 kids on this
trip. We drove just a few miles to Lake Naivasha
and let the kids out on a large grass field for some
soccer and hotdogs and soda. They were in hog heaven...
The buses were quite on the ride home.

A word about the current dorms...you can imagine having 150+
kids from 3 months old all the way through 18 or so. Where do
they all sleep? There are basically three sleeping rooms.
The primary boys room has 21 beds...and 55 to 60 boys
in just that one room. The smaller boys have 3 per bed, the
larger boys have top bunks and are don't share a bed.

The quarters for the girls is much the same.
No matter where you go in Huruma, there
are kids, kids and more kids...

We were blessed to have a great trip getting
acquainted with as many kids as you could.
Finding out names and trying to remember
stories about each one. They are mostly
quick to talk and tell you anything that
you would like to know. What wonderful
memories we all have that will last a
lifetime...

In these photos you can get the general gist of Huruma...
Lots of smiling, loving kids who just want to hang
out and love on you. Oh those faces and gorgeous
smiles. You just can't get enough of it...

These faces will be with us for our entire lives...
Thank you Mama. And a special thank you to