Dear Friends and Family,

I returned several weeks ago and fell way behind on sending out an update on my mission trip to Eburru, Kenya, so I apologize!  It was such a wonderful experience and I just loved the Kenyan people and their beautiful land.  We spent a lot of our time at Camp Brethren where we led part of that week’s Vacation Bible School (VBS).  The children were SO well behaved and polite and showed great interest in the crafts we made, Bible stories told with puppets, singing, and the games we played.  I wish I could adopt just 6 of them!  They would walk from long distances without an adult to get there, as they are accustomed to doing to go anywhere.

One of the pictures below shows me walking with a few children that happened to be going to VBS that morning.  There is also a picture of the huts we stayed at in Camp Brethren, much nicer than most of the homes there.  The last picture shows a young girl with younger sibling heading off to work in the field.  They both carried hoes, as even the very young work in the family fields.     They eat a lot of fresh vegetables (truly farm-to-table) and almost no sweets and appear to be very healthy!  The other 2 pictures at the bottom were taken during one of the medical mission trips where we spent time with the children while their parents were in line to receive medical help.  That was really a fun day and so many were seen by the doctor who stayed until 9:00 pm, and there are no lights in this small building; just imagine.

We went to see the High School they are building but they need more funding in order to finish.  David’s Hope International based here in the USA is helping to get funding for this.  There are 25 students attending now in the rooms that they have ready.  Most public schools in rural areas such as this one are of poor educational quality so Camp Brethren had the vision to open a private Christian HS as part of their outreach to the community, as well as the Primary school they have been running for about 10 years.  If you are interested in supporting a local child so they can attend, it costs only $40.00 per month to provide 2 meals a day, medical check-ups and a highly rated education.  You can learn more about it here:  https://davidshope.org/sponsor/

I can’t wait to return someday!  There are other planned trips here through Global Impact and McLean Bible Church if anyone is interested in going.  I have always been concerned about going on a mission trip and not really doing something that made a difference, but this was not the case here and I’m so glad I chose this for my first mission trip.

God bless you,

Martha