Day 2 began with our first visit to New Life Academy in Bomani. This school is right in the middle of a tribal village. As we enter the compound, the children are singing a "Welcome Fox River" song. They usher us into the church building and bless us with songs, poems and Bible verses from each of the 12 classes (baby class through grade 8).
The entire school waiting for us to arrive.
A recitation about the history of the school
The baby class (3 year olds) singing for us.
Class 7 during their recitation.
The Adult Literacy Class joined us to sing a traditional song.
We gave out team shirts to all the staff to signify the partnership between Fox River and the school.
Pastor Allan shared the story of how God made a way for the center to be in Bomani.
Then it was time to leave our school to visit the government school just down the road. Over the years we have built a good relationship with this school. We appreciate how hard they work for the best opportunities for their children. Here are a few things we learned:
- The government supplies teachers and a few supplies to the schools, but does not provide buildings, books, desks, teaching materials or other school supplies. The community must raise the funds for these things.
- There are 1200 students in the school with class sizes around 80 student per class.
The children had a few presentations for us and then, as we do each year, we presented the school with a gift of desks for one classroom.
The assembly of younger students.
Our team sitting outside one of the classroom buildings during the assembly.
One of the upper primary classes.
It was time to return to our school and the team jumped right in!
Making Chapati
Stirring rice in the HUGE cookers!
Cleaning up in the kitchen
Serving food
Doing mounds and mounds of dishes!
After a delicious lunch and a tour of the facilities, we enjoyed some time getting to know our partners at New Life Academy.
On Sunday afternoon at the big outreach day in Bomani, we will enter a team in the volleyball tournament. We got a little practice in this afternoon before we had to say good bye to all of our new friends. We ended the day with a team meeting and a walk down the beach for ice cream.
It was a full and wonderful day jump starting relationships that will cross an ocean and last a life time. The team is healthy and doing well.
Tomorrow we head back to Vipingo to build a mud hut for the family in the community and before we leave in the afternoon, we will meet with the parents of the upper primary students. At that time we will present the gifts of the solar lamps that Fox River and many sponsors donated so the students can study after dark (6:30pm every night) without having to breathe in the fumes from burning lamps.
Thank you for your love, prayer and support!