You Are Welcome.....

One of my favorite things about Africa is the way you're greeted.  Every encounter begins with a "you are welcome or you are most welcome!"  When we arrived at God Cares Nursery & Primary school this morning, more than 600 students stood as we arrived at their class doors, clapped and greeted us with "you Ah (are) welcome to Owa (our) class dear Vistas (aka Visitors:)."  Melts my heart every single time.

Even more amazing is the number of children in each class.  Classes average 50+ students with only 1-2 teachers!  Take that LAUSD :)  We were shocked at how smart these kids were when we looked at what they were studying....pretty sure the 5th graders knew far more than me!  Riley immediately jumped into her little class.  She has been missing her school so much!  She said she had fun but you sure can't tell by this picture.  That poor kid next to her!

We later spent time with the kids on their break, attended chapel with all 600+ kids and then presented our Reality Check (Sexual Integrity program) to the 6th & 7th graders (we'll be at their high school on Thursday).  Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Just can't get over their smiles.  I was surprised by how many "lighter" skinned kids there were.  Pastor Dongo shared that most are refugees from Ethiopia and neighboring Countries.

 Riley finally found a playground in Africa!  She was in heaven.  It was also a nice break from being tortured by the kids:)  They were pretty aggressive in pulling her hair, touching her "Mzungu" skin, shoes, etc.  She couldn't quite understand why they wouldn't stop grabbing her.  Most of the time she was running away from 40+ kids at a time as they chased her.  She eventually planted herself on daddy's shoulders :)

 Improvising with the Reality Check Powerpoint presentation!

 Watching this boy worship just gave me chills.  What a doll!

Lunchtime!  Posho (Maize flour, water, salt) & beans....pretty much what they eat at every school we've been to!

 Trying to warm up to them here.  Check out that giant bite on her face:(

 Thanks to those who donated school supplies!!

And toothbrushes/toothpaste, etc.

It was wonderful to see how much God has blessed this school since I first met Pastor Dongo four years ago.  They now have close to 200 orphans living at the school (30+ kids share one room) and over 800 kids signed up for the elementary school.  Can't wait to see the new high school on Thursday!

This only covers the first 3 hours of our day today!  Tonight was actually one of my favorite memories on this trip.  However, it took almost 3 hours to load the pics for this blog and it's close to 2am now.  I'll share the rest tomorrow!

Much love to you all,
Talitha, (Brett & Riley too!)