Here are the facts:
The drop out rate in most Kenyan schools is about 65-70%.
Most Kenyan children eat one meal a day.
When a free lunch is provided, the drop out rate is reduced dramatically.
Here are some thoughts:
Most Kenyan children walk several miles to a classroom and sit all day on a bench without a back to it.
It would seem like one might be able to concentrate if you had some food in your stomach.
Without an education, there is little opportunity one...
Fred begged us to bring the twins.
It will only be one hour, he told us again and again, and it won’t be the same if the whole family isn’t there.
And we were close to bringing them, until JT and Matthew went to the practice.
Matthew was playing the processional, and one tradition in a Kenyan wedding is for the bride to work down the aisle VERY slowly to show she is sad to leave her parents. After he played the processional...
Several comments about the exciting contest:
Many of you have WAY too much time on your hands.
If someone is having a baby and I yell `Name it Steve or Stephanie’ that is CHARMING. If you suggested the name Steve or Stephanie to name a COW, it is a sign of IMMATURITY and RUDENESS.
Those of you that decided to use this contest as an opportunity to insult me severely hurt your chances of winning.
We had more response to this email than when...
Our date was great. It’s remarkable how being away for a day can refresh your perspective. It was also the first time I had driven to Nairobi since we had returned to Kenya, and it’s not like driving in Dallas. I dodged mule carts, sheep, matatus driven by escapees from the Asylum for the Criminal Insane, and pot holes that are so deep and so wide you can’t do anything but bid farewell to certain...
Continue ReadingMy last email has been misinterpreted by so many people that I felt an obligation to offer an apology. It was entitled `Sacrificing myself for others: Nobility in Action’. I began the email with my attempt to swipe some pie from a luncheon that Nancy was giving for some ladies, where I emailed them and told them that it was no good so not to eat it; I would eat it later and in effect, sacrifice myself for them.
By the...
Grammar is the most boring subject in the world to teach, and certainly to learn. But my daughter has given me great inspiration. She is the most beautiful girl in the universe, but before she does the deed she grunts in a manner that people miles away are aware of what she is doing.
So, when we are doing drills in class to identify irregular verbs, what do I make self-conscious eight grade students do? You’ve got it; they have to...
Adopting the twins has been such a blessing. It has also been a very revealing time for me.So many people have said to us or written to us, “What a wonderful thing you are doing. Those babies are so blessed to have you as parents.” But as is so often true of God, the total opposite is what is really true. What a wonderful thing God is doing for our family through these twins. We are so blessed to have...
Continue ReadingMerry Christmas
Happy New Year!
Happy Valentines!!!
There is something just darn special about being the VERY last to get their holiday letter done. We hate to mail until someone is leaving from this area because so much mail tends to get stolen, and we’ve had some life changes that are our excuse this year, but there were three major events for us this year:
The decision to return to Africa: leaving a great church, a wonderful job, beloved friends and family was so...
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