In April, I will be going to the HOREC (Hope for Orphans REscue Center) Orphanage outside of Nairobi, Kenya. All of the children who are living there are orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS. HOREC is an orphanage that my church sponsors, and we send a group or two of people over every year. This will be the first time our youth group, JOLT, will make the trip to HOREC.
At the orphanage, we will be spending time with the children, whose ages go from very young (maybe two or three or four or five?) all the way to high school- aged. We will have an Easter egg hunt, and play many games, and sing and dance together. While we are there, we will help with repairs and the large garden, and building jobs around the orphanage and its facilities.
We each chose two children that we would get to know specifically. We have a piece of paper that says their name, how old they are, their favorite color, animal, school subject, what they want to be when they grow up, and their hobbies. We're going to bring each of our children a special present when we visit them. I chose two girls, Susan (age 10,) and Beverlyn (age 12.) I already have planned what I am going to bring them! Dear girls...
Also, while we're around Nairobi, we will be visiting the Springvalley slums, a very large slum in Nairobi. We will be attending a church service there, as well as handing out food and care packages. If you go to my Chemistry page, you will see that I had a project of making 'slum toilets,' that is, a way for the people living in the slums to dispose of their waste in a sanitary manner, for disease is very common in the slums because of lack of clean water and the sanitary conditions.
Visit http://jeffreyhuber.blogspot.com/ to see Pastor Jeff's blog about the trip he made to HOREC Orphanage last year-- it is quite moving, with lots of pictures and videos of the children.
(Pictures on this blog courtesy of jeffreyhuber.blogspot.com and fumcdurango.org/missions#!_missions)
