The Boys

My highlight for this trip has been being able to spend time with the Saint Boys. The Saint Boys are boys who live on the streets of the Kawangware slum. To learn more you can watch the video I have made about them, which the link is in my last blog.

I love every minute of every time we are able to go to see the boys. Whether it is on Mondays, where we spend the entire day with them, or wednesday and thursday when we go to tutor them. Every monday we spend the entire day with the Saint Boys. We normally arrive there around 930 am and will stay until around 3 or 4pm. We teach them Bible stories, we sing songs with them, we read them children’s books, we play games with them, we play soccer with them, and we tutor them some as well.

I have had the opportunity to be able to be the one that is able to read them the children’s books to them each week. Each week we read about 2 books. I read the words and then we get someone to translate for us so the ones who don’t know english very well can understand. Then I show them the pictures that are on each page and get to be blessed by seeing there faces while they look at them. They laugh or smile really big, show the person sitting next to them a certain part that they think is really funny. It is absolutely AMAZING. I love it. I love just being able to read to them and letting them be normal kids again. Letting them experience what most of us, in america, experienced as a very young child, being read to by our parents. It is just simply amazing to experience that and see them just being so happy and having so much fun while just being read a book to.

Lately we have began to tutor the boys as well. We have spilt the boys up based on their education level. I have had the opportunity and privilege to teach the younger, and lower educated boys. I have been assigned to them because of my strong connection with most of them. I am teaching James, Dan, Nicholas, and Dennis. Most of them have either never had schooling, or have had very little of it. I have been working mostly with them on learning the alphabet, shapes, numbers, and basic math like addition problems. I never thought that I would like teaching, but I have really enjoyed teaching these young boys these simple things. Although sometimes it is frustrating, getting them to calm down, to just finish their work, and not help each other. But I really do like teaching them. Also I absolutely love being able to tell them good job once they finish their work and do it correct. They always want you to mark their books, showing that they did it correctly. They absolutely love when I write Good at the top of their page. They give me the biggest smile, stretching from ear to ear, and normally accompanied with a fist bump.

Also some of the boys always want to play football (soccer) with me every time Im there in the afternoon. One boy, Nicholas, who is an absolutely amazing boys, who is always happy and smiling, no matter what he is doing. Every day when I see him, he comes to me gives me a high five, grabs my arm and tries struggling to say it because of the very little english he knows, “Kevin, today today you play football?”. Everyday I love hearing him saying those words to me. Everyday I say to him “Yes Nicholas, we can play football” as I look back at him. Then he looks back up to me and gives me a humongous smile, just showing his joy. I absolutely love Nicholas, he is an awesome, happy, and fun boy.

These are just a few stories that I have from my interactions with the Saint Boys. They are some amazing boys and I absolutely love being around them, No matter what it is I am doing.

The Joy Is Rising.