Brooks
Today was an extremely unique day in the lives of some very special children.
To motivate some of them for an
upcoming exam, we were able to join fifty children on an outing to the
Kitale Museum. For most of these kids this was their first time to town,
to see a supermarket, to see paved streets and the goings and comings
of city life. After the museum they were treated to lunch at a local
hotel (restaurant), where for many they had their first soda, a whole
piece of chicken and French fries! What a day! It was like Christmas,
Disneyland, and your birthday all rolled into one. These kids have
worked hard because someone believes in them and believes for their
future. Words have been woven in their spirits, like “I am with you
always,” “we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord,”
“with God all things are possible,” “I have loved you with an
everlasting love.” In very real practical ways, these children are
experiencing God’s love. Where many have known only hunger, physical
abuse, sexual abuse, sickness and disease, today they are free to
explore a world where there is enough…timidly they test and try to see
if it really is safe. Today proved that it is. For some, I saw them
smile wholeheartedly, without reservation for the very first time. Even
they could not hide clutched by fear on such a day as this!
Liberty School began six years
ago in a dilapidated structure with a few volunteer teachers and a
handful of children, orphaned, left to live with relatives or “just
somewhere” in the village of Bikeke in western Kenya. None of these
children or the ones who were to follow would be able to attend school
without the love and compassion of one man determined to reach into the
whirlpool of human depravity continually fueled here by backyard
breweries, witchcraft, superstition, prostitution and poverty with the
love and light of Jesus Christ.
There are 27 candidates who will
take their Class 8 examinations during the week of November 4. From
Class 1 (first grade) until now (eighth grade) teachers have been
preparing their students for this exam. It’s hard to believe that the
years without pay, without a classroom, without books or papers or pen
or even individual desks have proven that Liberty School is a viable
institution. In recent examinations, the school placed 63rd out of 250
private and public schools in Kitale County. Today classrooms are
standing on property owned by the school. Teachers are getting paid.
Over 150 students are receiving a hot meal at least once and sometimes
twice a day. Many of the most vulnerable older students are boarding at
the school where they can be protected and nurtured without abuse or
distraction. Almost every single one of these students has no father at
all. At Liberty School they receive the tangible love, affection and
instruction from not only Director John Wayonyi, but other male
teachers. They receive nurturing and direction from the “mothers” of the
school as well. For all this is a safe place for them to be little
kids…to play, to laugh, to learn, to dream. Thank you to all of you!!
You are the ones who are making this possible!!!
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