Plan B

Sunday afternoon we had planned on going to a soccer match and bring bread and milk for the street kids (aka "Glue boys").  My son Harrison wants to work with the Glue boys after college, so we are seeking out opportunities for interaction with them to make sure this is in fact what he does want to do.  

Apparently the Government came in recently and did a "sweep" of the Glue boys so there weren't really any to be found on the street. We were told about a place called Nakuru Children's Remand Home that might house some street kids.  It is a place that houses around 50 or so children who are in protective custody, awaiting their day in court.  Some of these children are accused of crimes and some of them have been the victim of crimes.  All are under 18 years of age.  We were able to sit down and talk with them and hear their stories.  We heard everything from rape (defilement as they call it), abandonment and murder.  One boy beat another boy to death with a stick after the boy attacked his sibling and then lashed out at the boy.  They are honestly the sweetest kids, who have seen way more life than they should have.  

In a sad, humorous kind of way, the girls that are currently in the home are like the characters from a Lifetime movie about a girls' prison!  There's definitely a ring leader, a not so bright bully who does everything for the ring leader, etc. etc.  Our hearts have grown in the past two days making room for each of these kids.

Since quite a few of them do not speak English, each one of us (Harrison, Hudson and myself) had one of our Kenyan friends as a translator.  I heard all of the girls' stories, and the boys listened to the stories of the boys in the home.  As Hudson said, "It was too intense to hear all those stories in one day."  We honestly could have spread them out over many days and just heard one or two stories each day to let us process.  But the children were SO eager to talk with us.

It is a Government owned establishment.  Today we brought them toothbrushes and toothpaste and it was cute to see them all go brush their teeth after we gave them a lesson on "how to".  I was watching one little girl and she kissed and hugged her toothbrush tight.  I do hope she finds a safe place for her toothbrush and I sense she gets bullied from time to time.  We are hopeful to take some photos when we go back tomorrow to play games with them, but we must get permission first.

This place was not even on our radar before Sunday, and it's amazing how our "Plan B" is evidently right where God wants us.