Sharon


Thursday, July 1st - Changing the World

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Since I've been away, I have come to appreciate how important the exchange of ideas are. Our Lady of Grace School was formed after the post election violence in Kenya in 2008. Many of the children came to Our Lady of Grace to live and attend school because their homes and previous schools were burnt down. There was an enormous amount of death and destruction that has not been forgotten. The past history that so many of the children have lived through is devastating. At Our Lady of Grace, the students are taught through actions and words the reality that they each have an indestructible dignity and purpose. When the school first began, the classes were held under trees outside before the classrooms were built. Our Lady of Grace is their safe haven. Many Kenyans are very loyal to the tribe that they come from. The most prominent tribe in Kisumu is the Luo tribe. Even though many people thought that the Dominicans were crazy for opening a school among the turmoil, they pushed ahead and have done amazing work. Sometimes crazy ideas are the genius ideas that people are too afraid to turn into reality. I think about the future of the students who I adore...even the ones that act up and do not listen to every rule. Those students may be the ones in the future who really do pay it forward and work for positive change in their community and world. In their own way, they absorb this education in their faith and their other studies.

This morning, Julia and I received the list of students who do not have sponsors. We then went through to sort out what grade level each student is currently in. In the next few days, we will be interviewing the students that have incomplete files to increase their chance for sponsorship. Julius is the man in charge of communicating with the guardians of the children and helps regulate new students who will be accepted into the school. We will be working closely with him.

Later on, we played soccer with the students and helped scrub down one of the rooms where a new member of the staff from Nairobi will be living. At dinner, we had an assortment of vegetables including the yellow squash and secuma that was grown in the garden! Being on the compound, I have felt safe from the day I arrived here. The eskari (guards) that are at the different entrances to the compound really look after us. At night, they are on watch with their bow and poisoned arrows! This was definitely one of the things I had no concept of living in the US -- that a bow and arrow is still used.

1 comment:

  1. Patricia, I love the openning quotation...how true it is! Someone once told me to stop being so passionate about things, that I'm never going to change the world. My response was, "Yes I will, but I'm going to do it 1 life at a time." From all that I've see and read so far, you are doing just that. Keep up the good work...the world needs more people like you!
    ~John

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