The Hope of Loving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEIMgDhS2LM

Life at Flying Kites orphanage

Life at Flying Kites Orphanage

A Typical Day

5:30am   Matrons out of bed to start the fire.  Water is boiled for bathing and milk is boiled for breakfast

6:00am Twenty kids are roused from their sleep.  They are directed to spread their beds and get dressed for school.  They share two bathrooms and one bath tub. 

6:30am Porridge (warm milk and flour) and eggs.

7:00am Land Rover arrives.  

7:15am  Transport to school

7:30am school starts

Classes include math. science, social studies, kiswahilli, english and CRE Christian Education.  

10:00 break for porridge

Classes

1:00 lunch

Classes

3:30 end of day

4:00 transport home

4:30 change from uniforms, wash socks, clean shoes

5:00 start homework

6:00 dinner

6:30 clean up

6:45 nightly meeting... review behavior for the day, read notes from the teachers regarding the day’s participation, hear about plans for upcoming days and do gratitude circle.

7:15 homework or reading or composition time

8:30 prayers, brush teeth, go to bed.

Pretty normal, right?  Isn’t that the way most kids spend their days?    

Last week, I spent two days in the slums of Nairobi.  These visits were both productive and informative, however as I walked through the brown, congested, busy streets headed to  the necessary offices, I realized that my eyes didn’t function like they used to.   I didn’t see these environments as slums.  I saw them as people’s homes and their places of business.  I met with young men and women who are being trained as sales people.  Discussions included volume discounts, lead times and targeted marketing.   A tour of a new technology facility confirmed that construction brings on the same issues all over the world - contractor disagreements, punch lists, missed deadlines.  Business happens the world over.  For some reason, I had never given this much thought.  I had not wondered how they spent their days or how they raised money to buy food.  Everyone wants better.  Everyone wants more.  More and Better are just relative terms.  

The children in the streets looked the same as the kids in Njabini.  They wore tattered and torn clothes with no shoes.  Their eyes were wide and playful.  They played with discarded plastic bottles or tires.  Young girls, five or six years old, often had infants strapped to their back.  Children aggressively asked for money or food. The only difference between Nairobi and Njabini was the amount of barefooted, beautiful babies on the streets.  Children on the Brink (COTB) reports that these numbers are not declining.   In 1995, 9% of the population of children under the age of 15 were orphans.  It was projected that in 2010 the number would rise to 12%.  These statistics are for Kenya alone.  

Two days was enough. 

Arriving home at Flying Kites was a welcome relief.  Eight year old Josh* grabbed my hand and asked if we could read together.  As we scootched together on the couch and imagined life as a little star in the heavens, I was content with the belief that this one child will not be living the life of so many others.  

Later that night, the time spent with Josh* re-entered my thought process.  Eight years old.  HIV positive.  I wondered how old he will live to be.  Where will he fall in the statistics being compiled by the world at large?  His life is different than that of those I had witnessed over the last forty eight hours.  He has a bed to himself.  He has clean clothes and three meals a day.   He does his homework and watches movies and plays with bunnies and kittens.  He runs through green grass and goes swimming in the river on a regular basis.  He complains when one of his brothers gets a matchbox car and he doesn’t.   This is not the normal story of a Kenyan child that is found in the woods at the age of three, next to his brother who has died of neglect.  

Flying Kites is reshaping the way aid to orphans is administered in Kenya.  Quality versus quantity can be a difficult task when the numbers are large and the lives of children are at stake.  It is a bold and aggressive strategy.   Partnering with like-minded individuals will be the way this initiative continues to grow.   If you are interested in becoming part of this quickly growing family, please click here.  Or Friend us on Facebook.  FlyingKites Kids.   Or live beyond yourself and sign up to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and come visit.  The kids love visitors.  

Just when I thought I had it all figured out.....

There's always something, right?
This time it seems really good.

I am going to be posting at the following address..

www.blog.timesunion.com/bethany
Please follow me there... PLEASE?????

Sorry to keep changing addresses and emails and all that jazz....


Next thing on the bucket list....Writing that Book...  It's a project in motion and everything is lining up.  ROCK ON!!!!

Happy, Happy, Happy....

New Years brings hope, excitement and new energy for me. In the past, I would spend New Year’s Eve having a decent meal on the early side of the evening to beat the crowds.  We would be home and in front of the TV before a lot of people had left their houses.  We would rise and shine early on the first of the year and linger over coffee and dreams of the year to come.   We sat with a yellow legal pad, bank statements, investment statements and a tattered sheet of paper from the year before. Last year’s list would undoubtedly look like this:

Save $$XXX done dated xxx

Save $$$ XXX

Invest in XXX done dated xxx

Invest in XXX done dated xxx

Pay off XXX  Interest rate 12%   done dated xxx

Pay off XXX  Interest rate 10.5% done dated xxx

Purchase XXX done dated xxx

Purchase XXX done dated xxx

Purchase XXX

Purchase XXX

Items were highlighted and dated when completed.  My lists were very productive, efficient and useful.

Inevitably not everything was completed.  The UNDONES were the first to move over to the new year’s list.  And then we would sit and make a plan for the year that was upon us.  What did we want?  How much money should we save?  Should we build a barn, a pool, a new garage?  Should we buy another car?  A motorcycle?  Another TV or furniture?  Spread out on the kitchen table was the plan for the year, as well as all the reasons that I needed to work as hard as I did.  

For the last three years, New Year’s has been a little different. The “We” in my life has changed. There are no financial statements hanging around.  Investments aren’t on my radar.  Making sure I have enough money to sustain myself for another year is all that matters. I don’t think beyond that anymore.  I spend New Year’s Eve with friends and stay out late, eating kettle corn, going for tea, playing cards, walking around town, watching fireworks.   I let out my “Oohs” and “Aahs” as we huddle in the cold staring at the greens, blues, yellows and reds that burst into patterns in the sky.  We hold hands and hug each other and wish each other Glad Tidings for the next year, as well as for the next twenty four hours that are ahead of us. We have all come to learn that the gift of life is not in the things we have, but rather in the moments we spend with each other.  

The “We” in my life has become my posse, a group of friends who has carried me through the trials and tribulations of a life well lived.  They believe in me.  They tell me I can do things.   They use words like “honesty”, “gratitude”, and “courage”.  They talk about fear, anger and loneliness.  They are authentic.  They push me to be a better person, by being examples themselves.

This year’s lists have expanded into my hallway.  There are four 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of white paper as well as some miscellaneous stuff, including three white index cards, taped to my wall.

The index cards have been around for a while.  They have made it through many transitions.

Card 1 reads “What do I want?”

Card 2 reads “Serenity”

Card 3 reads “Peace”

A pink index card says “Clean Out”.  This too has been around for a while.  It reminds me to get rid of things...regularly.

There is a full face shot of James, one of the oldest boys at Flying Kites, smiling back at me.  He has beautiful white teeth and spectacular dimples.  His eyes twinkle and scream “Come back to see us.”  James is quiet, shy and reserved.  Yet there he is, hanging on my wall, pushing me to do things that I didn’t think were possible.  

The four pieces of paper are each a list of their own.

To Pack/Kilimanjaro Hike

Medical Issues/Fundraising Ideas

To Purchase

To Do

Each task is boldly written in black sharpie.  Line items are written with purpose and intent.  

It’s count down mode.  Count down to the New Year.   Count down to getting technology issues straightened out.  Count down to seeing the kids.  Count down to being in the presence of greatness... yet again.  

When I wrote Orphanage in Kenya last year, I couldn’t have imagined what that would mean. It’s a life beyond my wildest dreams.  Dream Big Dreams.  They CAN come true.

Thank you for a great 2010 and for being part of this journey.  

I wish you all peace, serenity and your own set of miracles in the year to come. 

Holiday Gratitude.....

That's Major Moss, commonly known as Spike in our family.  

That's the award ceremony when he was promoted.

That's my little brother.

He left his six month tour of Iraq on Sunday, got stuck in Qatar for a few days and will be home in St. Louis on Friday.  He is going to beat Santa to his house.

The three piece tree was snapped together the day after Thanksgiving.  The multicolor big bulbs scream "FUN" out my front window.   There are strings of multi colored lights zig zagging throughout the inside of the house.  The strands outside resemble a clothes line.  The neighbor's elegant white lights that perfectly drape each shrub say "Peace.  Harmony."  We aren't on the same page.

There are not a lot of presents this year.  There's not a lot of hub bub.  There's not a lot of stuff.  However, the house has been full of friends, food and laughter.  People pop in.  There are discussions about love, gratitude, helping others and hopes for the new year.  No one cares that my lights don't match.  They just want a cup of coffee and to laugh out loud.  There's no cost for this.

Everyone has a roof over their head.  Some friends don't have jobs.  Some have health issues.  Some aren't doing so well.  But none of us are alone.  It's a posse of people that support each other.  When we hear each other's stories sometimes we think "WOW... I thought I had it bad" and then realize that our life looks a little better.  

On Friday I will become a crazy cat lady and load Punky and Mazey into the mini van and head over the river and through the woods towards Binghamton, to spend time with my family.  The cats will either find a spot on the dashboard or stare out the windows from the passenger seat at the passing vehicles.  When we arrive at the homestead, my brother's dog will be terrorized by my furry kids.  Chaos will erupt for a period of time.  My sister and my niece will try to calm down the dog.  There will be hugs and kisses and "How was your trip?" My dad and nephew will unload my car.  "Do you want something to eat?"  Eventually, we will settle in to that comfortable routine that each family has.  And once again, I will fall into the love that is so special in my life.

The holidays are special but I am grateful that this exists in my life each day of the year.  

Happy Holidays.