Today we went to visit an orphanage run by a pastor who is interested in joining the King of Glory Apostolic Network. This trip is primarily about catching up with our existing affiliated pastors, but we didn’t have anything scheduled for this morning so Adams thought it would be a good idea to go and meet him and see what he is doing.
The trip involved many miles of driving along very bad, narrow and steep clay roads, and then a hike to get to the building. When we arrived the children were lined up at the roadside, singing to welcome us. I had to walk along the line, shaking hands with each one. Then two of the older girls grabbed my hands to escort me to the house, with the rest of the kids following.
The last part of the path was a very steep, uneven slope. Even with extreme caution in my descent, I still managed to hurt my knee.
This orphanage is home to 32 children. Most are in primary school, a few in high school, and one remains at the orphanage even though she is in first year university. Kisii is one of the areas hit worst by AIDS, and many of the kids have lost their families to that disease. Most of them are total orphans, with no remaining family at all, but a few have grandparents who are not able to look after them. They live at the orphanage, but go out to school at government schools.
The church was given the land for the orphanage, and built the structures themselves. The main building includes dormitories for boys and girls, a dining hall and kitchen, as well as a staff room and several offices.
After we had prayed for the children, Adams asked each one what they want to be when they grow up. They were certainly not lacking in ambition! Several wanted to be doctors (including one neurosurgeon!), several others were aiming high wanting to become pilots, a few wanted to be journalists, and one girl went against the trends with an ambition to become a police officer.
They entertained me with a couple of songs, sung with amazingly good voices, and an impressive presentation of their memory verses. Then, of course, there were the obligatory photos … Africans love taking photos, and even more love being photographed with the visitors. Another song to farewell us as we clambered back up the cliff, and they accompanied us back to the road and the car.