Corrine's vision of education in the Deep Sea Slum...

My friend Corrine went with me to Africa. She is a pediatric speech-language pathologist with a special love for children and animals. This trip to Kenya and particularly to the Deep Sea Slum has changed her life and thus will change the lives of the many pre-school children of the slum.

Corrine met Pastor John and together they shared their vision for a pre-school in the Deep Sea Slum.

Corrine says..."My visit to Kenya was life changing on many levels. I am grateful for the amazing people who have come into my life as well as the overwhelming support that is bringing my vision to fruition."

Please visit her new blog and read about her journey...... " Landing in Africa "





This is Corrine. I had known her to be at times, a bit ethereal......until I was with her in Africa.
There she became completely grounded. She glowed and radiated joy. Her feet were clearly where they were suppose to be. Corrine had landed in Africa and I had the privilege of seeing someone meet their destiny.

Can you lend a helping hand to these children?

Our last day in Africa....

On our last day, which was Sunday, we went to Pastor John's church service in the Deep Sea Slum.



As before, the children gathered to greet us.




We walked down the alley....


and were greeted by song.......





Song and dancing and exuberance in Pastor John's church!


The energy was wonderful !









Oblivious to the service, these little ones found piece of chalk and began to draw...






Time to fly home....5 hours from Nairobi to Dubai...then 16-1/2 hours from Dubai over the pole to land again in San Francisco. On the way over, the first 10 hours were okay, but the last hours were really hard for me. On the way back, the flight was surprisingly easy and fast.
When we first arrived at the Nairobi airport, at the beginning of the trip, the airport felt small and close and very foreign to me. When we departed from the very same airport, the airport looked spacious and familiar. I seemed to be looking through different eyes than I had when I first arrived.
By saying "Yes" to Africa, was I changed as everyone said I would be? Well, I can definitely can say that I feel expanded. This trip has gifted me with a deeper understanding and experience of the word gratitude. The sentence "I am very very happy" means so much to me now and brings with it memories of beautiful happy faces and meaningful experiences. I look forward to my return and I definitely will travel with Rebecca and Valerie again. The idea of a Purposeful Tour is exactly the way I wish to see the world.

Our Working Hands.....

After visiting the DeepSea Village in the slums of Nairobi, we stopped by the DeepSea Women's Self Help Group, working out of a small garage near by.

After being inspired by her trips to Africa, Rebecca set up a program called "Our Working Hands"
with the goal being to create an opportunity for women to provide for their families...to feed their children. One of those programs is called Rehoboth....the DeepSea Women's Self Help Group. The women create the most beautiful baskets from sisal, and Rebecca and Valerie bring those pieces back to the United States to sell for the women.
All proceeds go back to the women who created them.














I brought each woman a sarong and sea shell necklace from Hawaii and they were so excited to receive these small gifts. I found that the same trees, flowers, and shrubs ....even the same red soil....is in Africa as it is in Hawaii. I felt very much at home.














Here are some photos of the baskets. They also make wine bottle holders and the cutest little woven dolls....which I brought home for my granddaughters.




















































Here are pictures of Pastor John and his wife Breatice, who over see this program, and their two beautiful daughters, Ruth and Milka.

As always, we were greated with joy and gratitude and meals were prepared for us.






























































I wanted to share the faces of the women of Rehoboth so you will know them and might send them a wish and a prayer for a good life for each one of them, and their children. They are the sole support of their families. Follow this link if you wish more information.

And I always end my post with a link to Purposeful Tours...in case you wish to say "YES!" to Africa.

Deepsea Village Slum, Nairobi, Kenya

On Tuesday morning we left in our van to visit Pastor John's feeding program in the Deepsea Village.
More than half of Nairobi’s population – more than two million people – live in slums and informal settlements. Crammed into makeshift shacks on just one per cent of the city’s usable land, people live without adequate access to water, hospitals, schools and other essential public services.

Around 10,000 people live in the Deepsea Village and up to several million people live in Kiberia, Nairobi’s largest slum, crowded onto just 550 acres of sodden land that straddles the main railway line. Most earn barely enough to rent a mud-floored, tin-roofed wooden shack with no toilet or running water. It's hard to get your mind around it.

We drove in and parked along the side of the road and began our walk, carefully stepping over debris, sewage and mud. Pastor John and his wife, Beatrice have committed to providing a feeding program in this slum, for the children, 4 days a week. ( with hopes, of course, to be able to offer it every day )
They serve 1/2 a cup of a thin porridge and a banana to each child....or half a banana if there are many children.
Because the word got out that our small group was coming to visit, the number of children gathered in the corregated makeshift metal building expanded to many hundred smiling faces.


















The children welcomed us in song, and among the poverty and need, sweet voices were raised in welcome, joy and gratitude.







































This journey to a third world country was....yes....one that was about those in need, but more, I was discovering, about the expression of gratitude for simply a new day.






















After the children were fed, we met with a family that shared their moving story. A couple of weeks before our group left on this journey, the leaders of our group had heard from Pastor John about the terrible burns suffered by little Sharon.
It seems that her mother had heated some water for washing clothes and one of the little girls, in thinking that she would be helping her mother to wash her baby sister, poured the boiling hot water over little Sharon. They managed to get Sharon to the hospital, but having no money, were turned away. The father happened to meet up with Pastor John and shared his story. Pastor John emailed Rebecca and Valerie, and they in turn sent out an email to each of us who were planning on visiting Kenya, to see if we might be interested giving a small donation to help raise the money for Sharon to be able to be treated for her burns. The money was raised and Sharon was able to return to the hospital for treatment, however, in her treatment they forgot to pull her little ears away from her skull and so they healed from the burns but were stuck to the side of her head, and would need another operation. Today she goes into the hospital for that second operation. If you can send your thoughts, prayers, wishes and intentions to her and her family, I know it will make a difference in the success of her treatment.

But here's the point that I want to make in sharing this story. Look at the faces of the family. Do you see their smiles? Can you feel their gratitude for the miracle of healing and support. The mother and dad wanted to meet with us to thank us for our donation and to tell us that they feel so blessed and grateful. There is no complaining, no whining, no despair......we were again, only met with deep gratitude and a smile for the blessings they had received.

I was just beginning to become aware of the power and depth of Purposeful Tours and was, myself, so grateful that I was able to over come my fears and to say "Yes!" to Africa.