I struggled to get out of bed this morning.  It was raining, my bed was comfortable.  But then I checked my email and found a message from a family I’d visited in Nairobi in the summer of 2009, and suddenly I was awake.  

Thomas and Beatrice Omolo have been working to build an orphanage outside of Nairobi for children currently living in the Kibera slums.  When I’d visited, a Norwegian doctor had just purchased the land for them, and they were making plans to start building.  Today, they sent pictures of the progress on the property.  Step one was to build a wall around it, which has now been completed.  Eventually, there will be several homes and a school.  

There are about a million people living in the Kibera slum, which is roughly the size of New York City’s Central Park.  The average home (if you can call it that…) is just under 10 x 10 feet, with an average of 5 people in the dwelling.  Sanitation is minimal, and work is scarce.   A home well outside the slum will be a tremendous blessing to those who get to go when the work is complete. 

It’s really hard to wrap the mind around.   Every now and then someone from across the world reaches out to me, and I remember what I have.  I remember the opportunities I have here and start thinking about what I can and should be doing with them.  So today, as I begin to refocus on my path, I want to share some pictures I took in Kenya last year.   Everyone’s hearts are moved by something different, and this is what moves mine.

Rocks gathered on the site of the future orphanage.

Children in the Kibera Slum, outside Saviour King’s Academy.