We went to visit the Mcedo school again to drop off some soccer jerseys because the girls have a soccer tournament on Saturday. It was really nice to see some of the kids again even though I didn't fully recognize any of them. I was looking for one girl who wasn't part of the school, but unfortunately I didn't see her. I remember just walking around the kids who were playing and just watching us, and this boy was trying to run away from another boy who was pulling back his arms. The first boy was crying and screaming and trying to get away and couldn't and it made me really really sad. So I went up to them and shooed the other boy away, and the crying boy just stood there and cried with his face down. I asked him if he was okay but he was just really sad and shy. A small crowd of other boys started to surround him and they were trying to see his face and were laughing at him because he was crying. I got kind of mad at the other boys and told them to stop laughing and that it wasn't funny. My heart was just really sad for him even though getting laughed at is probably a common thing growing up. I gave him an origami cat which he tucked into his shirt. I think it made him feel better because a few minutes later he was laughing again. I live a very sheltered life, and I don't think I've been bullied much but I can't imagine what it's like to be a kid in the slum (not even including the living conditions) in the way that they treat each other sometimes.
I was looking around when I suddenly saw this girl's face and I was like OH MY GOSH. Her cheeks are the biggest I've ever seen and her head was GINORMOUS! But she was so cute! I was seriously so surprised at her face/head.
Had to get a picture with her of course.
Kaili too you know.
This is the chai-like tea that I'm kind of in love with. We were fed incredibly well at Heavenly Treasures, and would have this for dinner and breakfast.
This is Kaili and Joseph. He isn't sponsored by Heavenly Treasures because they focus on kids who don't have parents due to AIDS and such and he has parents. But he would always hang around us and was very sweet. He really liked holding Kaili's hand.
On our walks in the country around Heavenly Treasures we would get awesome views of the rural life up there. There used to be a river that flowed throughout the countryside, but it's all dried up and it made me really sad to see that. The way their agricultural system is how the Aztecs used to do it.
I told her to smile, and smiled at her so she copied my face. She's one of the neighborhood kids who hung around us a lot. She was a very tricky girl, and wanted to use my camera but I said no. She would make this face like she was crying and very sad, but it was very unconvincing so it wasn't hard to say no heh.
This is Erika telling the story of David against Goliath, and how it didn't matter how small David was, but that he just trusted God.
On Monday we went to Eastleigh which isn't a slum, but a pretty dangerous area where the street kids live. Apparently if you're recruiting people for your terrorist group, Eastleigh is a good place to pick up people. We were just working with this organization called Made In The Streets, which helps minister to kids in Eastleigh, trying to get them off the street so they can turn their life around. Street kids start out at MITS and if the workers see a genuine interest in changing, they send them to the Farm.
Kaili, Jesse, Nikki, and I went to the group of teenagers who were there for the Monday session taught by Moses. We did a few songs with them which they seemed to like and we got introduced to them and vice versa. Some of the kids had been there since they were 5 and lived on the streets for about 10 years. That seriously crushed me because I could never ever imagine living at the bases (groups of boys/girls on the streets) for more than half my life. It's dangerous, frightening, unhealthy, filthy, exhausting, etc. and will probably kill you. The kids have to run away from abusive homes, or see Eastleigh as a place where you have no rules. But there's fights between the kids, you have to steal, you have to do favors, and drugs are everywhere. Because of the lack of food, most of the kids are high on glue to kill the hunger, but then use other drugs like weed, coke, etc to kill the other effects they don't like of the other drugs. Kids as young as 4-5 are addicted to glue already, and then grow up on the streets for who knows how long. Being a girl is even worse, because on the streets you are merely seen as an object. Being a girl, you learn to use your body to survive. To simply join a base for protection, you have to sleep with, or have some kind of sexual interaction with every single boy in the base. There can be more than 30 kids in a base. I don't even know what it means to be a girl here.
In the class Moses (the teacher) wanted us to share something with the class, so I tried to share a short testimony of something I thought would relate to the kids. They were all high, and I could tell some more than others, so I don't know how many could actually understand what I was saying. I shared some of my struggles, but how God can rescue us from anything, and He loves us no matter who we are or what we do. After that Trisha asked if any of them knew Jesus, or wanted to know Jesus, so I prayed the sinner's prayer with the boys. I was really nervous because I've never done that before, but God definitely helped me not be worried, and gave me the words to say with them. I'm really glad for the opportunity, I just don't know how many of the kids actually meant it in their hearts. I know when you're high, it's like a mental seperation from God so I don't really know how many of them could actually believe at that moment, but I know God has a plan for them and I will continue to to pray for them.
They're just kids, but they've endured more than most of us in a lifetime.
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