Wednesday - Departing to Mombassa

By Kyle Small -
Three members of the team departed this morning. Ron, John, and Kyle traveled to Mombassa area to discover a children's home operated by Larry and Kathy Hopkins of Canada and the African Inland Mission (affiliated with Rift Valley Academy). 
Chris Okune of First Love, a children's home in Nairobi, traveled with us. He is the director of the home, and his vision and insight into empowering students to live abundantly in the future is one worth replicating. He is a visionary, and his children's home is an invitation to what is possible for the future of Kenyan children. First Love is committed to two things: 1) housing children whose parents have died; 2) feeding 1000 students breakfast and lunch at a local slum school near Kibira (this is the second largest slum in the world).
Rifiki Children's Home is a home for 85+ kids and has a dynamically different feel than either Stars for Jesus or First Love. Rifiki is a more conservative home that seeks to prepare the children to return to their local slum communities upon graduation from high school. The location and philosophy of the school is much more rigid and structured than other homes we saw. This has its benefits and downsides. 
We very much enjoyed meeting Robert and Zipporah, who are the day-to-day directors. This passionate Kenyan couple live on-site and have developed a disciplined community of children. Larry and Kathy are free to live in Canada and raise support for the home due to the exceptional gifts of Robert and Zipporah. 
What has impressed us is the difference in raising children in Kenya. Robert and Zipporah operate under strict rules of social interaction, bible study, and modesty. Tradition and rules are fundamental. Chris operates a more progressive home that is still devoted to discipleship, but feels like a larger and more middle class family home. The care for the property and responsibilities is allocated to paid staff and children are more devoted to studies and enjoying childhood. Reah and Francis operate a more flexible home that feels like a tightly connected family. Children have plenty of playtime, yet each child understands the shared responsibility of being "family." This means that children help in the garden, with the animals (cows, goats, and rabbits), and around the property, including the bathrooms and cooking. Stars for Jesus is a real blessing to watch unfold. All three homes have their practices and cultures - each is a different way of raising children and each way has a commonality - blessing these children with a home in the name of Jesus Christ. 

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