We’re like the old joke:  guy goes to Vegas in a $50,000 car and returns home in a $300,000 bus. We had a four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home in Texas; now we have six showers and four toilets in the dorm.

J.T., Matthew, Nan and I all share a bathroom, and that is fine; we know it is a luxury to have running water. We build a fire if we want hot showers, and it has been cozy except for one thing.

Our boys will dry themselves on whatever is available. The thought that this might not be your towel has never crossed their minds; in fact, I am convinced that if the Magna Carta was in our bathroom, they would dry with that. All that leads to interesting times when you get out of the shower; did they get my towel today? I’m afraid I am not doing well in towel bingo.

It is so easy to get so busy here that you can forget the extraordinary things some of the students have gone through. People from the American Embassy were on campus this week because there were death threats against the parents of two of the children here. Their parents are working in a Muslim area, and there are people very unhappy with them. The kids were so shook up, and it wasn’t safe for them to go to be with their parents, so they had a couple of very scary days. The parents believe that if they leave at the first sign of trouble, they will be sending the wrong message, so they are staying. I admire their courage and conviction, and I pray for their kids.

Some of my students have seen so much in their short lives. One of my students was camping, and a horde of rhinos charged her tent. They were able to get on top of a car and stay there until morning. More than a dozen have been evacuated from the areas they were serving; one kid had thirty minutes to leave before there was a slaughter in their compound. One girl talked about her friend being murdered, but first her friend had to witness her own mother and father being killed before her eyes.

It so grieves me that children have to know the horrors of war, and it especially hurts me that it is happening in the United States. I still can’t comprehend all that has happened in America, but even over here, we feel violated for what has happened to the USA. Kenya doesn’t let you forget you are an American either; there is an anti American march every Friday in Nairobi. Although many Kenyans are supportive to the US, many Muslims in Kenyan are very anti American.

Last week, they had a special night for the little kids. The seniors would be big brothers and big sisters to the little ones. Kenyan seniors were big brothers for American little kids, and vice versa. One of the little Kenyan kids dressed up like a Masai warrior, wearing a blanket draped over his shoulders and little else, When his white big brother saw how he was dressed, he ran home and came back dressed like a Masai also.

It’s one of the reasons I love this place.

Your pal,
Steve