thank you

It's Sunday afternoon here in Kenya. The rain is falling for the second time today as I sit beneath the covered porch and hear the gentle drops hit the leaves of the banana trees in the yard. In the distance I hear birds chirping and a drum being pounded, I imagine there's children dancing to it as their afternoon church service continues with no end in sight. Sitting here, feeling the cool breeze from the rain and smelling the sweetness of the afternoon I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

We've been in Kenya since Monday night, and arrived in Kitale on Wednesday afternoon. Since coming to Kitale, where Phil and I met, we've been busy, and it's been good. Among seeing old friends, meeting new ones, celebrating birthdays, having fiestas, visiting and filming at Mattaw, eating, sleeping almost normal, and going to town, Phil's phone has been ringing non stop. It's about 3pm here and he's already had 27 missed calls today from street kids and others needing help. You may have read our previous post about Ian going home, but what Phil didn't share is that it's because he has spent so much time with the older street boys over the years that they helped get Ian on the bus. There are thousands of street kids here and only a few are successfully rehabilitated. The older street boys may no longer live on the streets, but they do run the streets. And some of them got to do something different: they were able to send one boy home and be his hero.

If you donated to our Thanksgiving in Kenya Fund, its because of you that 7 year old Ian got to go home. For Ian's bus ticket, new clothes, food, water and change in his pocket it was exactly $25. Because of your contribution there is one less child sleeping on the street. As Phil mentioned in his post for Until Then, its not always this easy to help reunite a child with his family. But when it is, we jump on it!

This is Peter. He's an older street kid that Phil met before he filmed Glue Boys, and he currently lives in the trash dump outside of town.

Peter is a successful businessman, which started with a micro-loan that Phil was able to provide him with years ago because of a donation. The other day we heard from some boys in town that Peter was sick and unable to work. They were worried and called Phil for help. Because of your donations to Thanksgiving in Kenya, we were able to help Peter see a doctor and get him medication for typhoid and malaria, two diseases which could have killed him within a month. It cost 15 dollars to save Peter's life.

On behalf of Peter and Ian, we want to thank you for your donations to Thanksgiving in Kenya. We could not have helped them with out you!


Dalene