Reintegration Trip

Yesterday's Trip

Yesterday, I took a trip with Morris and Douglas, two of Agape's Reintegration Team members, to visit some of the children that Agape has reintegrated with their families. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Reintegration Team conducts around 50 home visits a week throughout Kenya to follow-up with children and families.  Yesterday, we set out to visit 10 children at school or at home.  Here are a few photos of the trip:
 

 Wycliffe Obukanga with the school's headmistress.

The headmistress' office

I thought this calendar was funny . . . my rough translation is "Great Education:  What does it take?"  The answer are the three stones holding up the cooking pot:  Community, Government, and School.

Chubby Baby

When we visited Fredrick Mamba's home we found out from his uncle that Fredrick had run away three days prior.  Fredrick is 10 years old and really small for his age; please keep Fredrick in your prayers!

Another mtoto mchanga (baby) in Fredrick Mamba's home; he's probably Fredrick's cousin.

Backstone Omindo with his school's senior teacher.  In speaking with the senior teacher, it was interesting to learn a little bit about Backstone's home life.  Evidently, there's a problem in the local community where wives are leaving their families in the rural areas to sell tomatoes in town.  The other ladies that are doing this business are not the best influences, and in Backstone's mother's case she chose to leave her husband and rent a room in town.  A reciprocal effect of this scenario is that the mother begins to neglect her children, and in some instances the mother finds a new boyfriend or husband in town.  The senior teacher has invited the mother to school to discuss the home situation, but thus far the mother has refused to come.  Agape's next trip to visit Backstone will include a visit to the mother to determine how we can best help this home situation.

In the rural areas, a mzungu (white person) can be quite the celebrity, so when I visit the rural schools the kids usually go nuts!

This headmaster's office was filled with bags of corn and beans, presumably for the school's lunch program.

Antony Oduor was out sick when we checked on him at school, so we found him with his father in the local town center. 

Some of the local kids near where Antony's father was working.

This is Kennedy Otieno.  I love this picture, because he was so happy to receive a few notebooks and two bags of rice.  When we gave these items to Kennedy, he made a beeline for the school gates, because he was so excited to show his family.  We had to divert him back to class and had the headmaster hold his items for him until school was actually released.  It's always amazing to see the joy that a small gift can bring someone!

Cutie Pie

This is Brenda Akinyi, one of the girls that Agape rescued and reintegrated from Remand (Juvenile Hall).

Here's another boy we visited, Joseph Ochieng.

 More mzungu watchers!

Morris and Douglas were busy speaking with the teachers, so I decided to entertain the kids with some silly songs.

Here's Winnie Adhiambo, another girl rescued from Remand.

This is Jeremiah Oduor, a former Agape boy.

Mzungu + Camera = Chaos

Check out the tidal wave of kids pouring out of the classrooms . . .

Mzungu Madness, Part 3

The last boy we visited was Ibrahim Ochieng, a boy we rescued from Remand.

Ibrahim's little brother was terrified of me.  I'm probably the first mzungu he has seen.

 Here is Ibrahim's family; he is the tall one in the picture.