bon voyage

I am currently sitting in Africa for my last few moments. Today was the most emotional day that I have yet experienced here. I don't have much to day about the last few moments other then my heart broke a little more, these boys will always have piece of my heart, I'm called to make a difference, and I cried more then I ever expected. Here are two boys that I cried and prayed over today. If you feel lead to donate to Jessica's Warehouse, please contact me, my mom, Evan, any one close to me...I can send the money directly to Jessica so she can move into a house instead of a small cement warehouse and the UNICEF will start providing medical care to these boys and education to better their lives.

Alleson one of the street boys has a terrible disease in his mouth...we arent sure what it is but his whole entire mouth is puss and bad! He is getting tested for thrush, AIDS, and other disease tomorrow...please pray!

Auba is a little boy was hit by a car. it broke his leg and foot but they fused back together in an incorrect way. he needs i simple surgery in america to fix his life, but will probably never have the means to get that here in mali, so he will suffer for the rest of his life.

Please pray that Jessica will get enough funding to properly treat all of the boys she cares for, they desperately need medical attention.

thoughts

There have been a lot of things that I've learned while in Africa: some good and some bad, some I'm happy I've learned and some I could have been fine with out, some things that will last a lifetime and some that will fade away tomorrow. All that aside I think that biggest thing that I've learned is on family.

Everyone says that the family in Africa is so different then the family in America, to that I say yes and no. My family reminds me a lot of an African family. Not the color, the food, the house, etc. but the heart, the hospitality, the closeness, the care, and more. Through out my whole life I've been closer with my family then the average family, yes we had a bouts here and there, but all that aside my mom is one of my best and closest friend to this day. There is no one who has caught more tears, sewn more dresses, played more games, taught more lessons, listened to more plans, and everything else then my mom. My family opens their arms and doors to those who need love and care. We always have big dinner where that you show up to not knowing who is going to be there because everyone is invited. We are tight, even in our distance, we are close at heart. Our love for Christ binds us together and we can't be broken.

On another note, my church family has been there through thick and thin with my family. We have gone through so many things. Some people have help me as a tiny baby and prayed over me as I left for Mali. I was and the flower girl, babysitter, cleaner, and more to many people. When something happens, we can count on our church family to be there..

Those two things in my life reflect exactly what the African family holds here. It looks the same from the outsiders view, but the thing that make that American family different is me. I'm a part of that family. Some one that so deeply misses that family when I'm removed. I long to be there and feel that loving embrace all around me, but the best part is knowing that when I get home they will still be there. Waiting with arms wide open, tears in their eyes, and ready to listen to every story I have to share.

Thank you for creating my American family that I long so much to see!

My family!

jessica's warehouse

Here's What We Did Tonight:
(written by rachel hull)

We went to Jessica's Warehouse. Jessica is a woman from Nigeria who also spend time in the US (was trained as a nurse there) who has started a ministry working with the street kids in Bamako. Many people go around from village to village asking to take kids to Bamako so they can educate them and get them jobs to help support their family. Families send their kids to Bamako where they are sold into slavery. These kids have no way of ever returning to their family and if they are fortunate enough to escape from slavery they are stuck homeless and begging on the street where they fall into drugs and sickness and other dangers. Jessica started her ministry by providing these kids with medicine and food from time to time but has now rented a warehouse, literally, it is just a big garage in the middle of the city with a cement floor and some rugs and 1 tv where anywhere from 25-50 boys can sleep every night. She provides them with food and medicine when they are sick and shelter so they can survive a little easier and stay away from the influence of drugs.

These street kids have no way of better-ing themselves. Most of them have no education at all. They carry around big tomato cans (street kids are called tomato paste kids here) and beg for anything they can get. The ones who Jessica helps at least have a safe place to sleep at night.

While we are here in Bamako we are going to be teaching them to write their numbers and recognize them. Tonight we brought them notebooks where we had put the numbers 1-10 on 10 pages and helped them practice writing them. Some kids got through all 10 in the few hours we were there, others only got through 1 or 2 but all of them were SO excited just to be able to have a notebook and have someone take the time and effort to try and teach them to read.

These boys were so awesome though. They were so happy. And when we left they were all really disappointed because they wanted to keep learning more about writing their numbers. It was cool to see their excitement to be able to learn. They don't have a lot going for them; begging only gets them by from day to day, so it is definitely awesome to be a part of making even just a few moments better for them.

Also- near the end of our visit we started having thumb wars---they go crazy for those! It was hilarious. I think I played about 10 in the last 3 minutes and they are intense (and cheaters!) ;)

Jessica plans on moving them into a house soon. UNICEF has agreed to help her by sending teachers and supplies IF she gets them out of the warehouse and into a house. The house she wants has 12 bedrooms and multiple bathroom and looks like it was made for these kids. It is almost done being built and she is saving money to get it, but it $800 a month and she has no source of income.

Tomorrow we are going back at 1 pm our time hopefully with bread and candy in hand! :)

Rachel helping a boy with his numbers

street boys

Yesterday we went to see the street boys. It was a shocking and speechless experience. They have so little, yet so much. That seems to be that way in third world countries. The boys all shared with each other, what little they had; they looked out for each other and when one got in trouble they confront them; and as well. Tonight we are going back there, so I'm excited for what I'll learn. Hopefully I'll get to take pictures of these boys and the conditions that they live in. The single woman who runs this ministry is Jessica. She is from another African country, who has been educated as a nurse in the States. She is looking to rent a house that will hold up some where between 150 and 200 boys. Right now shes looking to raise support. She needs $700 a month for this project, but since taking care of the boys is her full-time job, she doesn't have any income to pay for the housing or food. As soon as she gets into the house UNICEF will be getting teachers to bring the boys up to their education level, get them beds, and various other things. One thing that she kept emphasizing is that the money that countries send to their country for these boys and they never see the money...that the money gets lost in transition, gets misused, etc.

back to Bamako

Hello everyone! We made is back to Bamako safe a sound. It's a really nice place to be and our travels were smooth, not a problem at all. Pray for us as tomorrow we are meeting with the ministry with the street boys. We will be starting that this week. I'm not sure how many days we will be able to serve there because of the holidays, but please be praying for that ministry as a whole. They are trying to rent a house, as opposed to a store front, which can house a 100 more boys, African style. While we are there we will be trying to teach them the numbers in Bambara, the trade language. Pray that we can have sharp memories of their language and that the boys will be able to grasp simple things like holding a pencil, writing, etc. Also, a praise: I have a babysitting job to come home to! It should help me pay most of my bills, but any more odd jobs would help alot too.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support! I can definitely feel the love of family, friends, and my church family. I miss you all alot.

Pastor's wife grinding grain

Joyeux Noël !

Joyeux Noël ! As I've heard today. Last night I started out our African Christmas celebration. We got to the church around nine o'clock at night and we were there until about midnight. We could hear the party the minute we stepped out the door of our house. There was dancing, lots of dancing, which all took place in the church's courtyard. I ended up holding baby Emmanuel (not really Jesus) for a few hours, until I realized he peed...on me! Here they don't wear diapers around here, so yeah...needless to say when I got home I took a shower RIGHT away and washed four times...ahhh! I won't even use cloth diapers after that because I don't want it to seep through onto me...never again! But it was well worth it, the baby was adorable and his mom got to dance a lot longer without him. Today we went to church for the longest service of my life, which I think seems longer when you don't know the language, but two or three hours is long its self. I hope you're enjoying family and friends because that has been the hardest part of the this season of Christ's birth for me. I've learned a lot about family and how close I really am to them. I miss them all like mad. Give them a hug for me if you see them, please! Thanks a ton for your prayers and support. Love and miss you all!

Grace, peace, and love from Africa,
Kait

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Gourds for Christmas

Christmas Eves’ Eve, was marvelous. One of those days that was completely unscripted, but perfect all the same. The night before a man that does the Christian radio drama team called and asked if he could pick us up at nine o’clock and take us around town. So, we did just that. Our first stop was to a house where there were tons of women and children. The courtyard was filled with so many, all happy and smiling, some were cooking, some resting in patio like room. He explained to us that this lady had just returned to her pilgrimage to Mecca. The man told us we could take pictures, so we started to at the end, which ended up being the beginning. I think se spent twenty more minutes there just taking pictures of everyone. Everyone from eighty to a baby wanted their picture taken and they loved seeing what they looked like. It was so much fun communicating with out even speaking. The kids were adorable and loving.

Then, we went just across the street to another house where her son was with other men, he too had returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca, with his mom. We spent some time there just talking the men and having children come say hello to the “too baboos,” white people. On our way out some ladies were trying to get a little girl to say hello to us, but she was one who was scared of the white people. It’s interesting because every time I hear too baboo I turn and look, trying to see who I can wave at. When I get home I’m not going to know what to do walking down the streets and not being famous or being yelled at. Kids seriously run after us just to shake our hands and we’ve taught some to give “high fives.” It’s cute. They have picked up “bye-bye” (from somewhere) in their adorable Bambara accents and I tried to teach them toodles, but I couldn’t communicate for them to repeat it…motions are easier.

After that we went to a CMA church, evangelical I think, and just sat in the courtyard with the pastor, youth pastor, his wife, and some other guys. They all just talked and caught up. Rachel and I were watching the baby chicks and contemplating trying to catch them, but we decided not to since there are so many diseases American chickens, so we didn’t want to even know what the African chickens carried. Today we will be coming to together with the CMA church and the church the Eadleman’s attend to celebrate Christmas, which we’re really excited for. (We are singing for them, which I’m not thrilled about seeing how I don’t like being in front of people doing something I’m not passionate about…so we will see how that goes.)

When we got home two girls came, Abbey and Karen, over to talk with us. We ended up going to the house of missionaries, who have left for a while due to health problems, to take their tiny little puppy and play with him for the afternoon. It was fun being outside with them all day, just talking as best we could. I loved it because there were two African friends and two American friends coming together to enjoy the day. At the end of our afternoon we all went together to return our puppy, now named Cashew. We followed Abby to the tailor to get out African dresses, which didn’t turn out like we expected at all, and then went to the church to help decorate for the Christmas celebration.

At the church we had a blast with a few younger kids. We made cootie catchers, paper airplanes, purses, and snowflakes out of paper. I met my new friend Eli (ah-lee) who is probably four or five. The whole entire time he never left my side. My favorite part was when he pouted; it’s my weakness because I just think it’s so cute and funny. He would pout to me in Bamabara and I would talk to him sometimes in French (but not really since I don’t know it and he didn’t either) and mostly in English. We would both just talk, him pouting and me semi-mimicking his pouts, you know when the mom sticks out her lip and says something like it’s the end of the world. He never gave up. I taught him how to take a picture on my camera (I had the strap on my wrist Josh, so he couldn’t break your camera) and I got some of the cutest pictures. When I was trying to teach the kids to smile in pictures, he would just start laughing on of the funniest laughs I’ve heard and I even got it on video.

Here are some of my observations for now:

1. Albino Africans-I have now seen two albino children and two half albino children (orange hair, white lips and hands, and distinct lighter features.) I really want to know the statistics of albino children in Africa and the “expected lifespan?” When I get home I’m taking a cultural diversity class, so I’m hoping that I can do some research for that in my class.
2. Holding hands and sitting on laps-It is a foreign concept to children here. We didn’t have enough seats so I had a girl sit on my lap, she really didn’t know at all what to think about it. She eventually got up and stood by me. Eli held my hand while I was walking to the tailor and he just kept looking at my hand. When we got back he looked down at his hand and wiped it on because it was so hot it was sweating. It was super funny to see how confused he was by holding hands.
3. Too baboo-I’ve started realizing that I have not once had a little boy run away and cry because I was white, nope just girls. That’s interesting to me. My thought…is girls naughtier then boys so they get told more that the white people are going to take them away? Or do girls naturally have that tendency to not know what to think?
4. Denominations-One of my favorite thing about yesterday was seeing the fellowship of three denominations. All genuinely being interested in one another’s lives. Yes, you see Baptist being friends with Reforms in America, but how often do you see the pastor going to see a family who juts returned from their pilgrimage to Mecca? It would be easy for us to say, that would be supporting their disbelief.
   

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM AFRICA!