This afternoon, the children piled into a bus heading into Nairobi for the first leg of their journeys home. There was a great difference between the children this afternoon as they said their goodbyes and the children that we met on Friday night. It took a while for them to feel comfortable in their surroundings and to get to know the staff and volunteers, but once they did, they became much more confident and we started to really get to know them. One of the scholars, Bernard was the first to make an impression on me. Saturday morning he came up to me and introduced himself to me as he put out his hand to shake mine. He was quiet yet confident, and very polite. He asked me about my studies in the US and told me how he would like to study in the US one day. For the rest of the weekend, whenever I saw Bernard he gave me a huge smile. He wants to be a doctor, and I can already picture him greeting his patients and caring for them.

The children have great smiles... they often do not smile for photos (which I am guessing is part of the Kenyan culture) but once you see them laughing or greeting you with a smile, you wish you could capture it and keep it with you forever.

This morning I handed out letters from donors. I can't tell you how much these letters mean to the children. They love getting them and especially seeing pictures of their donors and their families (and pets!). It gives them a real connection to a stranger that cares enough about them to support and befriend them. If you are a donor, please continue to write to the scholars and send pictures, they truly treasure them. In a workshop last night, we started to write letters for the donors. We ran out of time and I told them they could either work on them on their own in their bedrooms or we would have time to finish them in the morning. It had been a very long day and I assumed they would all want to go straight to bed! This morning, we were running behind and only had 10 mins to finish the letters. I was worried that it would not be enough time. But all of a sudden, one by one, they came up to me with their already completed letters. Almost all of them had finished them the night before. They are excited for the donors to receive their letters and to hear back from them.

I realized how important this workshop is for them. Many come from difficult backgrounds and have already had to fight to get this far in life. It is not easy for them. This weekend was such an encouragement for them. They were able to be together and to hear how many of us believe in them and how they can achieve their dreams. We handed out evaluation forms and all the scholars said how much they appreciated this weekend; the teaching, the time together, time with their mentors and hearing about their donors. They all hope that the next workshop will be longer and that it will be more than once a year. It would be wonderful to have a week long workshop, the relationships they form and the encouragement they receive is a vital support for them.

To sum up how grateful these kids are, I am following this post with a poem written by one of the scholars.