Easter in Kenya

Happy Easter! I never thought I would be celebrating a holiday on the other side of the world, but here I am in Kenya!

Foregoing the Easter basket and egg hunt, I embarked on my day by trying to hide in the Kitchen. You see, yesterday after lunch we sprayed the Veranda for cockroaches, and that happens to be the place where all of the kids' clothes, blankets, and sheets are stored. So yesterday we (the older kids and Danae and I) hauled ALL of the clothes outside to shake out the bugs and dirt and then stack them in a hallway. Aftr thoroughly wiping down all of the surfaces after the room was sprayed, we didn't have time to put all of the clothes away, so that meant thattoday, Easter Sunday, was the day to put everything away! Now you have to understand what an undertaking this was. There are around 107 kids here, and only the older kids take care of their clothes. So 100 kids worth of clothing is stored in window seats in the Veranda. That's underwear, pants, shirts, sweatshirts, and pajamas multiplied for 3-5 days worth for EACH kid! This all adds up to a MOUNTAIN of clothes, and if you're thinking about scaling such a mountain, be sure to pack oxygen canisters! Because we had the older kids "helping", and because we didn't think of keeping the piles seperated ahead of time, ALL of the clothes, blankets, and sheets were piled together, leaving us to sort the heaping mass later. Most of the kids were helpful, but only two of them knew where everything went. Suffice it to say, it took us about 5 hours just to sort and put away the mound today.

In the midst of this feat, we breaked for kids church, ate lunch, had a big rain/hail storm, and read an Easter story. The kids church was all in Swahili and began and ended with songs led by the kids with clapping, singing, and drums. Lunch was followed by a big rain/hail storm which according to my dad is typical during the "rainy season". This rain turned the paths and roads into rushing rivers, some of which flowed into the Veranda. Once the rains slowed enough to hear people talking, I read the kids a story about Jesus' death and resurrection told from the perspective of a merchant during the time of Jesus. Mama Carla read this to the big kids last year, but this year we included the 4-yr-olds, and the Pastor (who led the kids church) translated it into Swahili. The story was VERY long, and having to wait ever sentence for the Pastor to translate made the story about an hour in length. The kids who stayed awake the whole time and paid attention were led to Mama Carla's kitchen for a snack and discussion. The story wasn't much, but at least it was something to teach the kids about Jesus. Some of the kids could even tell you what Easter is about after the story!