Nancy and I had a meeting to go to, and the older boys volunteered to watch the babies. It is truly heartwarming to see them together, except when the deed is done, and then there is great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Apparently, while we were gone, there was a major deed done.

We met the boys and the babies at the cafeteria. After we had eaten, JT invited us to `sniff Ben’s neck. When we did, he informed us that after the deed, Ben still did not smell acceptable, so he did what any teenager would do: he covered Ben’s neck with cologne.

I never understood the phrase `he smiled weakly’ until I had a teenager.

I had the opportunity to visit Longonot Primary School this week. It is a school that appears to be in the worst condition of all the schools we support.

As the children lined up for their food, it appeared that their clothing was in the worst condition of all the children I had seen.

The children were generally as happy as most schools we visited, but it was hard to not be affected by how poor they are. I start to fall between two valleys: getting depressed or getting hardened in my heart. There is another place to go, but it’s not easy for me to get there. Lately, as I’ve left a school, the old civil rights song `We shall overcome’ has been the one I’ve been singing. Do you remember how it goes?

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome one day
I know
Deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome one day.

As I left Longonot, students from another nearby school started running over, asking me if we would add their school. We all say no to requests all the time; it’s a part of life. But telling poor children that you can’t add them right now is as depressing as anything I know of. I was angry, and as I was leaving, I recalled the second verse:

We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace one day
I know
Deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall live in peace one day.

That didn’t seem to fit, so I changed it:

We will not make peace
We will not make peace
We will not make peace today
I know
Deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome one day.

I didn’t want to give up and make peace with what is here, and I didn’t want to grow depressed. I asked God to help me to have hope, because this is a place where you feel like you are always putting Band-Aids on gaping wounds.

I found hope yesterday. We went to New Life Orphanage for their annual open house. We brought the babies and Matthew, and it was a fun day of games and seeing abandoned babies who are now flourishing.

The hope part of the day was this: when we began the process of adopting, almost 60% of the babies were adopted by white families. Today, almost 80% of the adoptions are Kenyans adopting Kenyans.

As I sat watching Kenyan families walking and playing with their babies, with Ben in my lap, it was just such a sign of hope. Kenyans saving Kenyans.

Deep in my heart, I do believe.

Steve