Last Few Days at Camp/Kiima Kiu!

Here are the Kiima Kiu Primary School children singing for us :)

Here we are with our 36 freshmen, sophomores, and juniors from Kiima Kiu after our soccer game!

We're sorry again for not being able to blog yesterday, the internet was spotty once again and we were all pretty wiped out! But we are back and come with pictures :) They are a couple of our favorite with the best kids around! Today we are writing right after a delicious meal of goat that we killed, gutted, and prepared ourselves, it was very delicious! A little graphic, and Logan insisted on naming it Keith, but still very good, as is all our food.

Yesterday we did presentations with our students in front of the whole group, plus many of their teachers. Our coliform tests finished, and we were able to see that nearly all of the test tubes came back positive for bacteria (changed from red to yellow). Each student showed a map they had drawn themselves of the dam where they draw their water from and the things that surround it, such as farms, factories, homes, and roads. They then discussed reasons for contamination of their water and the bacteria they had seen under the microscope. Every student did such a great job, and it was so exciting for us to see how much they had learned this week. After lunch, we got together to discuss ways to purify our water - boiling, soda ash, and a complex water treatment process were all ways which the kids had used previously. These students have an immense amount of intelligence and curiosity and creativity - we never ceased to be impressed.

Today was a lot of fun and very emotional for us. We 'slept in' until 7 AM and then went to the community cattle dip where unfortunately only one farmer showed up, but we still got the experience! Its always entertaining to see the huge beasts jump into the water, as much as they hate it. Afterwards we ate a delicious breakfast (as always) and mentally prepared for our soccer/futbol match against our students. We had our Kenya t-shirts and game faces on...and we got scored on in the first 10 seconds. We were pretty shocked, and they were extremely pumped, but we came back to tie it! The entire game was very intense and they were all very good, it was the best. They scored in the last 20 seconds to win the game and we all drank sodas together after, their joy was never-ending and we were trying to soak up every second we had left with them. Mr. Dyk, Logan, and one of their students talked about the great experience we had this week and how we were a blessing to each other. Our departure from the school was emotional and bittersweet.

Our time at Kiima Kiu was like nothing we have ever experienced before, and we have all been thinking a lot about how much we take for granted. We learned so much about an extremely different culture and got to see how much happiness all these students and teachers had despite the resources and possessions they lacked - which we have an abundance of back home. We're thinking a lot and praying a lot and can't wait to share first-hand all of our stories and lessons learned.