I need to begin by sharing an article from this Sunday’s newspaper.

This is a story that might not be found in an American newspaper.

There is an election going on for the new constitution in Kenya. Whenever I am in town, I ask my Kenyan friends what they think. They all have an opinion, and they are all rather passionate about it. The bottom line is that there is a lot at stake, and a lot of emotions behind everything.

The election occurs the last scheduled week of school. We are in a remote area, and we are in no danger, but most of our parents will have to travel though the large urban centers, which are expected to have some riots when the results are announced.

The superintendent gathered the staff together and told us that we would have to cancel the last five days of school in order for the students to make connections and travel securely. He mentioned that it would be announced in Friday’s chapel.

Knowing that it would be a difficult announcement to make, I gallantly volunteered to make the proclamation. I was rather ungallantly turned down.

Friday is the day we have our flag raising. After the national anthem was sung, the superintendent shared the news that school was going to be closed several days early.

The students cheered like you might expect they would.

But then he added that because of the need to leave early, there would not be time for final exams.

Their cheers escalated to the point where it sounded like they were sitting naked on a hot plate. I do not understand much about education, but I discovered that canceling classes and final exams is a GREAT way to make students happy.

We have friends who have an extraordinary ministry. They have started a series of orphanages that mainly have AIDS infants. They have over 1000 children in their homes. Their ministry is all about giving happiness to the babies while they are still alive.

In the course of taking care of all these children, they have also adopted several babies with AIDS. Joy died several years ago. Tony died yesterday.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to take in a baby who was going to die. Nancy called Mrs. Bovard tonight to express her condolences.

She said something that hit me as deeply as anything I’ve ever heard. Tony died pretty painfully, with four heart attacks. As Mrs. Bovard held him in his final moments, she told us that he looked at them and said without words that he didn’t know what it was like to be an orphan.

I am so grateful that there are still some extraordinary people left in the world.