Saturday, June 19th

Saturday, June 19th

Today I went to 8:00 am mass at Our Lady of Grace. Mass was said by Father Martin. The children were in charge of the music. Every single child was singing loudly and clearly in Swahili along with using their bongo drums. I haven’t cried at all since I’ve been away, but I almost started crying out of being so touched at how talented the children are. Now more so than ever, I have seen how much of a family they truly are. Father Martin encouraged them to all be the best they can possibly be. He also reminded them to pray to Mary who will always be their Mother. With the family they all comprise at Our Lady of Grace, they will never be alone.

After lunch, I worked in the green house that was donated by an NGO. With the tremendous help of some of the older boys and some of the grounds workers, we raked the soil which had been infested with butterfly eggs and is not fertile the way it currently is. We raked and helped build 5 rows that are about 1 meter wide with room for proper irrigation through mini pipes. The rows will be used to plant watermelon, butternut squash, eggplant, and tomatoes. These crops will be used by the students so they will reap the results of their work. Today I was able to get to know more of the younger children better including Immanuel and Jasmine. Immanuel was born without any limbs in the area by Mt. Kilimanjaro. He participates in everything and amazes me with how he is able to compensate with almost every action. Many of the children were telling me what they want to be when they grow up! They plan to be everything from pilots to engineers to teachers etc.

At 2:00 pm, we setup their dining hall into a makeshift movie theatre for the Primary Students to watch Shrek. Julia and I taught ourselves some technological skills to use speakers, a projector, and dvd player to make this activity work. At first, we were not able to get the sound to work. However, the students were so entertained by the movie, even without sound, that they didn’t seem to mind. Eventually, we got it to work with the help of the older boys and Sister Mary! Without being asked, so many of the students are so graciously willing to pitch in with everything. After dinner, the Secondary Students watched Avatar.