My thoughts on the second trip

For some of us this was our second trip to Mathare. For others it was the very first. For Ron, it was his third trip. This was my second trip to Mathare. Wow, what a change! Last year, there was no "formal" greeting. This year we were greeted with some singing and dancing! What a change.

As we entered the school, I noticed right away the guard shack. Then we went in a little more and there was a kitchen, then as we walked a little more, there were two new school rooms going down the hill. So now there are 6 rooms and the kitchen. One room of course is Rachel, the headmistress, office and one is the teachers lounge and the others are the classrooms. There are over 100 kids now enrolled in the school. I was flabbergasted.

The children were amazing. My little girl Doreen has come such a long way. Last year, she was a little girl who didn't even know her own name. This year, she was dancing, singing and responding to questions we asked and responding to her name when the teacher called. I truly knew that she understood that my family was her sponsor and we loved her so much. She blew me kisses and pinched me every time she walked by me or I walked by her. It was so much fun to watch. Whenever I walked by her classroom, I was greeted with a "Jenn" by both her and the other kids, especially this little boy named "Crispin". They were such a joy to work with. The first year students were exactly like the ones we saw last year, learning their names, the english language, proper swahili, singing, dancing and such. It will be such a joy to see what they have learned and such this next year. Missions of Hope (MOHI) is an amazing ministry. What they have accomplished is changing so many lives in the Mathare Valley. It is so fantastic to watch how the transformation of the lives of these children is changing the lives in the Valley. Believe it or not, the Valley looks somewhat "cleaner". It is hard to imagine that one day it will be clean, but it will. The lives of all are being transformed. They are coming out of the Valley of Darkness and being transformed into the Mountain of God.