the stories unfold.

This week has been incredibly busy but ten times as good as last week! Weve been working with the street kids in the mornings and at the university in the afternoons. AND every free moment I get (when we dont have team time, etc) I go find the kids in the community centre where they 'work' and play with them and sing with them. I absolutely love these kids with everything in me! I want to do something more.. something long term for them. But I know that the best way is to pour into them NOW and to the organizations and people that are staying. Its going to be hard to say goodbye. This week carolyn and I have been spending our mornings in a sort of daycare for the kids. Between 8 to 12 kids go usually and shower, get clean and put on fresh clothes and comb their hair etc. and get chaitea and lunch and have times of prayer worship and teachings. Its a time where they learn discipline and structure. Its really good for them, and I can see the change in these kids compared to the ones who dont go. It is just the one full time worker, and he has been there for 8 years. There are so many challenges. We are planning on interviewing many of the different people we work with and their stories. So weve been cleaning the kids and trying to kill lice from their hair - which is nearly an impossible feat. Ive never seen so much lice before. Its unreal. and dancing and singing with the kids. They LOVE to dance! and then we rush over the the university to talk for a couple hours. The university has been going well this week too. Weve been learning lots and teaching some.. and really just having good conversations! Yesterday carolyn and I skipped uni and went with a medical team to where the kids live with many families. Its called the flyover.. and its literally loads of families living under and overpass on either side of train tracks. Its loud. its open. its dirty and its crowded. It was alot worse than the slums we went to. The smell wasnt so bad because it was so open, but WE smelled so much worse when we got back. I spent three hours there playing with (getting swarmed by) kids and I got more dirty in those three hours then I think I might have ever been. And that is where these kids LIVE. Its home. They are literally sleeping in dirt. Now I understand how the ones that we wash daily come back looking the same the next day. And the lice.. Im sure thats not the only parasite or insect that they deal with either, but it was the most evident to me. Lice bigger than ants, and kids hair so think with eggs that I couldnt comb through.. It was cute.. I was combing and braiding hair and there was an instant that a lice jumped into my hair without me noticing but one of the many moms standing watching saw and grabbed it out straightaway. They were looking out for me! Many people approached me with different problems too assuming I was there with the doctors to help.. I have never wanted to be able to speak another language so badly! The kids all had a riot mimicking all my faces that I make, and my laugh etc. And they played a game with us that we called pass the baby.. where people would hand us random babies and see how long it would take for them to cry! It was a surreal expereince the whole thing! But like I said, the kids that are going to the different programs are noticeably different from all these new ones we met. It neat to see the change.. and know taht they are making a difference! Walking back we ran into a whole family that we know out begging and we stopped and played for a bit. Then the kids started asking us to pray - so we prayed for their baby sister, and their cousin and auntie and their mother pulled us over to pray for her sick husband. This is a family that I think we all feel a special connection with. They really are good people - even the parents. The mom (of 4) cant be much older than I am. And the father is sick and cant work, or hardly stand. But you can tell that they do love their children. The begging really is their only income. How I want another ending for their stories though.. I dont want them to follow the cycle! I pray for healing and I pray for miracles. The kids are so happy and so trusting - this is why I love to be with them.

Ive got to run off to the University now.. last day. Happy Easter to all. love