Tuesday, 9:30 am—A full day in Nairobi, Kenya

We were met by our wonderful driver, Justin, originally from Mombasa, who works part time for “Feed the Children”. We had such a delightful time with Justin as tour guide, driver and body guard. He took us from our hotel, which is right across from the Parliament and the Memorial to the First President of the country all the way to the FTC compound in Dagaroti. (I’m not sure if I am spelling that correctly.) In contrast to the downtown area of Nairobi where you see business men and politicians in sharp suits and ties and shiny shoes, Dagaroti It is an extremely rough area of town and now made me see why Haiti, where Danita Estrella lives is called ‘Little Africa’. I did feel like I was back on the streets of Ounaminthe where Danita’s orphanage is. Danita said that Dagaroti actually looked quite a bit like Port Au Prince which is the capitol of Haiti. The conditions were absolutely appalling. People had built make-shift shelters stacked one on top of another without permission on government land. In these communities of sheet metal huts, there was not electricity, no water, no sewage, no organization. The streets in these areas are used as trash dumps and alongside every street their are mounds and ledges of built up areas where there is either noticeable trash or else the trash from previous generations has decomposed into piles of dirt and refuse.

As we drove through Dagaroti on our way to “Feed the Children”, Justin asked us not to take pictures or video of the area. He said it was very dangerous. We have since learned that Dagaroti is the headquarters of some factions that were fighting in the war. As we pulled into the gates of “Feed the Children”, we were greeted by beautiful Seintje Veldhuis. I say ‘beautiful’ because she is beautiful inside and out. She is the Regional Director of “Feed the Children” in Kenya, and Larry Jones could not have chosen a better woman for the job. She comes to FTC with extensive experience having worked in NGO’s and missions in Africa for at least 15 years. She has such compassion for the children in the school, the Abandoned Baby Center and the school children all over Nairobi, but she is also a top notch leader and administrator. I really liked Seintje!

She told us the history of FTC Kenya and took us on tour. She told us the story of how Larry and Francis had acquired the facility which had included 300 handicapped children. I saw many of the children who call this their permanent home. They have nowhere else to go and no one else to take care of them. I met the house mothers who take care of the girls and the house fathers who take care of the boys in beautiful new buildings, some who have been giving this labor of love for years. I saw the older buildings which had been the dorms for many years which now housed the administrative offices.

We were so blessed to be able to see the pre-school and elementary school which also operates on the property and serves the children who live at the center and the children in the surrounding community. Not only do they provide quality education for these children, but they also feed all the children in the school a good meal each day. For some of them, because of the extreme poverty in this area, this may be the only meal they get for that day.

I found out that Feed the Children works together with a UN organization and actually feeds over 185,000 school children each day every day in schools all over Kenya. I saw the warehouse which stores the bags and bags of maize and rice which is distributed all over the communities of Nairobi and Mombasa.

What a wonderful work this organization is doing. They are truly making a difference in the lives of so many. The Bible says that true religion is taking care of the widow and the orphan. I am so grateful that Victory Church has the opportunity to partner with “Feed the Children” in this great work they are doing.