Whether the Nairobi team or the Massai team, relationships formed in the past or during this trip continue to grow.
Amy Steffy’s Story…
Friday, the Massai team traveled to the village that Teresia is from. Since her school had just started a mid-term break, both Teresia and Selina were able to accompany the team out to Teresia’s village. John Keshe, his wife Paris and their two youngest children also went with the team. As the team cars were loading up, all four girls climbed into the back seat to ride with some of the team members. On the way to the village, there was a lot of singing, sharing and laughter. The kind you have when you are taking a trip with friends. This alone would have been a wonderful time–but there was more.
Last October, the Massai team had visited this village to meet Teresia’s family and learn more about why they wanted her to be sponsored so she could attend secondary school. That visit was emotional. It was easy to see that the family had little resources to provide the fees to attend school, but shared how much they wanted their daughter to attend school in order to have a better future than the one that was ahead of her without the chance to attend school. The family was kind but reserved. Others who lived in the village had watched the team enter the village and the home without much interaction. That would not be the case on this day.
This time the team was greeted by many smiling, excited faces. Then to our surprise, we were lined up and paraded into the village where we stood in a receiving line in the center of the village. Over 150 people, which included at least two neighboring villages, came through the line to either shake our hand, hug us or kiss our cheeks, right down to the smallest child.
This was followed by a lunch held in our honor and then a celebration with thanks given to God and to those who assisted in sending Teresia to school. This did not seem to be the same village that had received us so cautiously just six months ago.
The relationships that began on a day last October has grown into friendships.
Friendships between a young girl’s family, a small village, their neighbors and the people who traveled to their home. All of this was to share in the desire to help a young girl and to share love that has been given to all of us from our Father.
