While preparing for our trip to MITS, we were told that we
were going to have the opportunity to take the literacy students (ages 12 – 15)
on a camping trip to Mt. Kenya for 5 days.
We did not know all that it would entail, but we came prepared and it
was quite the hit!
We camped at the bottom of the mountain at a place called
Mount Rock. The grounds were beautiful
with tall trees, a dam, cliffs, a playground, places to play, and nice
facilities to clean up and cook. We all
slept in sleeping bags in tents at the campgrounds and rotated groups to
prepare the food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were 35 students, 6 Aggies, and 5 staff
members making that a total of 46 people.
The camp week consisted of classes in the morning and
playtime in the afternoon. We taught on
the life of Moses because the students are learning about Moses through the
book ‘The Story” at MITS. We had 4
classes each day; a bible class taught by Shannon, a choir class taught by
LeShae, a craft class taught by Kori, and a quiet time/memory verse class
taught by Candace and I (Laura). Jeremy
kept the time and floated through all the classes for when help was needed. We tried to make it fun while also being
informative. The kids seemed to really
enjoy the classes and were able to do activities that were different than their
normal routine. In the afternoon, we had
organized games and also just free time.
The students really don’t get a chance to just chill so they really
enjoyed having time to play, walk around, relax, and just do what they want. The one hard thing about the week was keeping
the children engaged especially in the afternoon since there were so many
distractions. I think they would have
been perfectly content doing nothing in the afternoons since they normally do
not get a lot of free time, but we tried to at least keep them semi-engaged. Throughout the week, we played soccer, freeze
tag, a cat and mouse game, and chain tag.
One afternoon, all of the students had the chance to ride a horse! Jackton (a MITS staff member) was able to
negotiate with the campground and got a really good deal for all the kids to
ride. There were two horses saddled up
and each student was led through the grounds.
Some of the kids had never even seen a horse before so to see the pure
joy in their faces when they were riding the horses was priceless.
On the last day camping, we were able to all take a 4 ½ mile
hike up the mountain to caves that were used by the Kenyans during the 1960s in
their fight for independence against the British. When I say walk…. I mean a power walk (almost
jog) up to the caves. All of the Aggies
ended up in the back of the group within the first five minutes and that’s
where we stayed. All of the students
were so enthused to be going on an “adventure” that it was practically a full
on sprint the whole way. It was awesome
to see the beautiful landscape in Kenya and to be in the middle of God’s
wonderful creation. The caves were so
tall and expansive with a waterfall in the middle. Apparently, the Kenyans hid in the caves in
the daytime and at night would raid the towns and kill all of the British. The caves were an integral part of gaining
their independence and we were able to see them face-to-face. The way back to the campgrounds was a lot
slower of a pace, which was a nice change.
The kids were also exhausted from going so fast up to the caves so it
was a struggle for them to get back down the mountain.
During camp week Shannon, Leshae, Candace, and Kori had a
really good prank pulled on them by Jackton and Irene, two of the MITS staff
members. There were baboons literally
walking around throughout the campgrounds and in super close quarters to us the
whole week. Apparently baboons are
notorious for taking things from campgrounds, which we were not aware of. Well, Shannon, LeShae, Candace, and Kori left
their bibles, journals, and water bottles sitting on a table one day while they
were down at the playground. When they
came back, Jackton and Irene told them that they saw the baboons from a
distance come and take their stuff and run away with it. At first, they all didn’t believe them, but
Jackton and Irene made it sooo believable and kept it going for hours. We had all come up with alternatives about
how we were able to go with just my (Laura) water bottle and no bibles to teach
bible class. Eventually, Kori opened
Jeremy’s tent and saw their things sitting in the corner. So in the end, the real baboons were
discovered as Jackton and Irene.
My favorite part of our time camping was being able to build
stronger relationships with all of the students and getting to know them so
well. We were able to spend 24 hours a
day with the students for 5 straight days. I am not going to say that our patience was
not tested, but I would not take back having that time with the kids. It was especially good for Kori, Candace, and
LeShae who have not been to MITS prior, to be able to meet the kids, get to
know their names and stories, and to just love on them and build their trust in
a short period of time. Something that I
especially loved was being able to have one-on-one time with some of the
students. To hear all of the horrible
things that the kids have been through or even done, and to now see how they
are filled with the love of the Lord and the ultimate transformation that can
come when they are taken out of the situation that they are in still baffles me
and the only answer is God. These kids
have been through more things and seen more things than I probably will in my
lifetime, but have a faith in the Lord that I cannot even describe. They love like I have never seen and are so
knowledgeable in the Word and are so eager to learn more everyday. I am so thankful that I have been able to
come back because these kids are impacting me more than I even could impact
them through their love for others and God and their faith in Him.
Sincerely,
Laura Seifert
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