Left Behind

Before I left Wisconsin last January the mom of one of my patients asked what they could send for the kids here. After thinking about it I suggested kids' books because they all love to be read to. Imagine my surprise when she told me that the Prairie View Middle School in Sun Prairie Wi had collected 4000 books for the kids!!!! Yes, 4000! They fund raised and sorted and boxed up and shipped them here to me in early August. I had discussed their impending arrival with the Nyumbani management and after giving it a lot of thought I decided they should all go to the Nyumbani Village. The school is open there now, there are 177 orphans living there, with a target in the next 5 years of 1000. They had textbooks, many for the first time in their lives, but no real fun books to read. These are kids who have all been through the trauma of losing their parents, have been desperately poor, no food, no water, no bed , no house. Many have been raising siblings. They are so happy to be in the village, for many it's the first safety they've ever felt. And they want to learn, they are in the school even when it's not school time! I needed the books to go there, and they had a room they could turn into a library.
We had been told there were no customs fees on books, so when they arrived at the airport I was a little shocked that it would cost 39,000 shillings ($585.00) to pick them up. (bargained down from 44,000). Turns out there is an exemption but you can't apply for it until the cargo arrives, takes 3-4 months to get it and they charge exorbitant storage fees. So, it took 2 days but I was able to withdraw enough to pay the bill. We took the Nyumbani school bus to the airport where after an hour of searching we found the building with the 32 boxes of books. I paid the bill, and we hauled them back here to Nyumbani, the kids helped us unload them.
This past Wednesday Nicholas Makau, the manager of the Village,took 25 of the boxes up to the village. I came up the next morning with one of the doctors and the rest of them. When I arrived Nicholas said he had a surprise for me, but I had to wait. This is Africa, we always wait. Finally we headed over to the school.
When I arrived I saw some of the boys carrying some of the boxes into the school room, I walked in and saw all 32 of the boxes. and all the children in the village. They broke into song and dance, just for me. They were so excited, they were all wearing their new school uniforms even though it was vacation! I stood in the front of the room with Nicholas, the husband of the doctor, the representative of the Ministry of Education, on the side stood all the teachers.
Some of the kids took turns telling me how excited they were to have real books, how they would read them all and "deeply." They promised to always take care of them. Then the teachers and the representative spoke, all thanking the Prairie View Middle School kids, and wishing blessings for all of us. Then it was my turn to speak. I tried hard not to cry, but this is what I said:
I have learned many things in my life, but the most important is how to read. Because if you learn to read you can learn anything in the world. I have always loved to read because when you open a book you can be anywhere in the world. From the children of Prairie View Middle School in the United States of America to the children of Nyumbani Village Kitui Kenya: welcome to the world.
Then the kids were each handed a book and they held them up and said "asante sana Prairie View Middle School and Susan gold."
Another time in my life here I will never forget. Thank you Cheryl, Michelle and Jennifer of Sun Prairie for making this happen.
I truly am blessed to leave behind the now named Prairie View/ Susan Gold Library.
Stay safe Officer Tim xoxoxo Little boy