meet some of my friends

Over the last weeks since I've arrived in the village, I've tried my best to accumulate portraits of the kids. Here is my collection so far. Those at the bottom in green attire are the kids who attend the nursery school I teach at. My goal is to have "picture day" soon after I get back and then I will post all of the kids at our school. Thanks for your prayers for these sweet faces that I call friends. Their personalities shine through their smiles and I love that I can call them by name when I see them. This list is definitely not complete. In the small village where I live there are about 150 kids. I would say about 1/4 of them are orphans (living with people other than their parents) and more than 1/2 (maybe closer to 3/4) come from a M*lm family.

I cannot put into words how hard it was to get these smiles. Kenyans love to smile but for pictures they like serious faces. I learned the word "cheka" -smile very quickly! A few of these kids took a bit of tickling to get a smile out of them but I think for the most part I was successful. The camera became a tool I used to build relationships and learn names. God is so good!

Eric

Alex
He lives very close to me and is one of the kiddos who will meet me at the street when I get off the matatu and walk me home. He should be in my class at school but his parents won't pay school fees. :( As soon as school is out you will find him wondering onto our property to spend the afternoon. Unfortunately he's one of the few kids  (yes it's happened more than once) who has relieved himself on me after he fell asleep on my lap. They don't know what diapers are and I haven't figured out how they potty train yet. Unless I know for sure they are potty trained, I do not let them sit on my lap anymore- lesson learned! :)

Joseph "Luganje"
Luganje is a student in my class so I get to see this smile on a daily basis. He's a hardworking 4 year old who really enjoys to please his teachers. When given an assignment on the chalk board to complete in his book, I regularly have to encourage him "unajaribu" -you try before I will help him with dot letters to trace, etc. And when he does it himself I love responding with "vizuri sana!" -it is good!

Carlos
He has the best laugh! He is one of the kiddos who is very interested in the food we eat in America. He asks me, "unakula...?" -do you eat _____? It's a fun game to play and keeps my swahili strong with foods as well.

Kevin
Can you see his personality in this picture? He is a super sweet boy and is one of the boys you will find playing soccer everyday!

Rezeke

Silas
Silas is another young boy who you will find outside on our property every afternoon. He's also hardworking in our Shamba (garden). You can tell he wants to learn and loves to help out in any way he can. 

Japhet

Tumaeni (in swahili means "trust")
I love saying his name! Tumaeni doesn't seem to have much confidence in me remembering his name because he asks me every time I see him if I know and 99% of the time I do remember. He's older so his school days are pretty long (sometimes he doesn't get out til 4) so I don't see him everyday but when I do he is really fun to joke with.

Kazungu
Kazungu is one of my favorite language helpers. He's normally out playing soccer and is very good and quick. When he's not playing I try to talk sentences to him, he corrects me but is very patient with me as well.

Hellen
Hellen and many of the other older kids I don't have a lot to say because they go to school all day and by the time they are done it's time for them to go home and help prepare dinner. During the holiday months I will see them a lot more, like I did the last week of August.

Baraka

Khonde

Steven

Eliza

Salma

Athumin
Athumin is my best language helper! I've learned that he learns English in school but is very hesitant to speak it around me. However he is one of the young boys who wants me to be able to communicate in Swahili so right now I'm not pushing his English but taking in whatever I can in Swahili.

Jessica
I call her sweet Jessica. For some reason there is no way I can just say Jessica to her. I think this picture is perfect in showing her personality. She has a quiet little voice and won't talk over the other kids but if I ask her a question she will answer.

Paulo

Christina

Leah
Leah is spunky! I think she must have a lot of brothers at home but she isn't the girliest of girls (not that any of them really are but still). That smile melts my heart and she is always giggling; she has a lot of joy to share!

Prescar
Prescar is a little cutie pie! She doesn't live close so I haven't seen her lately but when she does come by she loves to just sit next to me or hang on me depending on if I'm sitting or standing :)

Glaadys
This was the best picture I could get of Gladdys. The older girls really don't like to smile. When I showed them the picture of themselves they hid their faces. I wonder how many of them had never seen themselves before...

Riziki

Elizabeth

Joyce
Joyce and the following four kids all belong to the teacher I team teach with, Salena. I just learned within the last few days before I left the village that all of these kiddos were hers! I'm not surprised, they are all so well behaved, sweet and fun to be around.

Kadzo

Eunice

Katana

Katana and Mercy(below) attend the school that their mom and I teach at. Katana is in the older class and Mercy is in our class. I seriously love these two kiddos!

Mercy
Mercy is in my class but half the time she isn't paying attention. But when I give her a task she completes it with the such intent and loves to show me when she accomplishes it (picture above). She sat there and worked for over 15 minutes and did a great job!

Edison
Edison is around almost every afternoon and is another great soccer player. I love seeing that smile when he see's me. He'll be in the middle of the intense game and as soon as the ball is not near him, he'll come over and greet me. He also loves to have his picture taken and make goofy faces! I'm so thankful I got this good smile!

Margaret "Pili" 
Pili is also in my class so I see her in a daily basis. She has a fun personality but a hard time focusing. I often catch her peeking into the classroom behind us. When I tell her, "Pili angalia juu" -look up front, as a command, she quickly turns around and sits up straight and looks ahead...it's quite cute!

Emily
Emily is another sweet young girl with the quietest voice. She's another one who will fight off the other kids to get a seat next to me and whenever we make eye contact I get the biggest smile! She lives close and is also a great companion for my walks from the street to my home. 

Davis
I think I can say, for his age, Davis is easily the best soccer player we have. The older boys debate over who gets Davis on their team and yet he is one of the most humble kids I've met. He is so respectful towards me and a great language helper as well.

Arnold
You see that smirk? It's on Arnold's face all the time! He loves to entertain me by hanging on the posts in the school house or do some fancy move with a ball. He's always trying to educate me on foods in Kenya which is fun. He has the hardest time understanding that I live here, even though he see's me everyday come in and out of the house, I think he's just playing with me haha

Jaruni

Hawa

Rehema
Rehema loves to play ball with me. She's maybe 8 or 9 years old and rarely shows up at our property without her baby sister on her back. She will spend all afternoon with us and that baby will be either asleep tied to her back or down on the ground laying on the lesso (skirt, blanket...whatever you can find a use for it for). If the baby fuses, she will quickly tie her back on her back and resume running around like there isn't a 15 lb baby on her back... it seriously amazes me!

Wanje

Baraka

Amani
Amani means "peace" in swahili and I think that describes him quite well. He's a hard worker whether that be on the soccer field or helping with the shamba. He's another respectful young boy who makes sure he greets me whenever and wherever he see's me. 

Saidi
I love this picture! I may print it out and post it up in my room. Saidi I know comes from a hard family life and I'm sure has many responsibilities at home and yet he comes over often and is just the most joyous young man I know. I love hanging out and having random swahili conversations with him.

Patrik

Wine (pronounced we-ne)
She's probably 6 or 7 years old but is in my nursery class. She's very smart and can read and write well so I'm not completely sure why she's in there but age is not a factor in the school systems here in village schools. You start school when your parents or guardians can afford school fees. She's a hard worker though and when she finishes her own work she will help the younger kids.

Evelyn
Evelyn (and her sister Faith pictured a few pictures below) just started school this semester. Both cried and would try to chase their mom back home the first few days but by the end of the first week came with smiles and easily greeted us as teachers. They are the only two kids who are brought to school by a parent. The others, even the really young one's, just show up around 7:30am.

Dama
Dama has a twin and a sister who is less than a year older than her...
it took me forever to be able to tell them all apart!

Left is Dama's twin sister and for the life of me I can't remember her name! Ah it's driving me crazy! Their older sister who can't be more than a year older, Nyevu is pictured on the right. If I've gotten the story right, the three all started school together. They are all sweet girls who share one pencil. They aren't the smartest in the class but will be the first to bring their books up to us as teachers to help get their lesson written in their books. I got the twin's books mixed up so many times at the beginning, Salena (the other teacher and I) had to just laugh!

Mary
Am I allowed to have favorites? She's definitely one of them even though she has the hardest time talking to me! Whenever we may eye contact she gets the biggest smile on her face while hiding it under her hands. I'm not really sure why she does it but it's become a game we play. She's a very smart girl who loves to lead our two classes in one of children's Kenyan chorus's for us at the beginning of each school day. This is most likely her last semester in our school and you can tell she's probably worn that same dress for the last 3-5 years or whenver she started school.

Adam
Adam is another one of the older kids in my class and when I challenge him, he does really well. He's probably about 6 years old but just started school. Our class teaches at a about a 2-3 year old level when compared to the Western world and he fits in just fine.

Sidi
Definitely another favorite of mine. She's the other one who will lead us in a children's chorus. She is a very smart girl and I just pray her family has the finances to put her through school. Like wine, she also likes to help out the younger kids when she finishes. You can tell there is a lot of maturity in her and I'm so thankful to have her in class as a good example to the others!

Prudence
I love this picture of Prudence. She can be very shy, which I think this picture portrays, yet very smart and hardworking. She's usually one of the first kids to finish the activity on the chalk board and I often give her more to challenge her. She has the best smile and is easily one of the best behaved kids in our class.

Faith
Faith is Evelyn's sister (mentioned above) and is a little bit more reserved than her sister. However she loves to sit next to me and can understand my Swahili quite well. She's starting to get the routine of school down but will often not start on the assignment until directly asked, "kitabu wapi?" -where is your book?

Lidya
Another favorite! So sweet, kind, respectful and just fun to be around. She's more reserved than others and easily gets lost in the choruses of the other kids yelling "meme meme!" When I do choose her to go upfront and show me she understands the lesson, she always gets it right. Her book work is excellent and she's just a good kid!

Jimmy
Oh Jimmy! There aren't very many boys in our class, the girls definitely out number, but somehow Jimmy makes his presence known. And not in a bad way, you just know Jimmy's in class. He's a sweet boy who tries hard but definitely needs a extra bit of encouragement and guidance with each task given. 

Wow! There's a lot of kids for ya! If you've actually got to this point without skipping ahead, I'm impressed. It took me a few sit-downs to work on this post before I'm actually posting it! These kids have made me feel at home since I've arrived and I have some great relationships with so many of them. I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do with the next year and a half!