The Wilson Journeys: Mother to 108 Kids

The laundry area

It was 10:00 when we pulled into the dirt parking lot for the Mothers of Mercy Children’s Home. We were expecting something like New Life - a nice stone building with a large yard. Instead, we were greeted by a large building made of corrugated tin. There were kids everywhere: on benches, at tables inside the building, and doing chores around the compound. There are 108 kids under the care of the Home, between 4 and 18. In part, there are so many because they will never be adopted.

The children get a cup of milk 3 or 4 times a week. All
of the milk they drink comes from these cows.

When we first pulled in and stepped out of our car, we were greeted by Charles, who is the assistant administrator. He gave us a full tour of the compound, everything from their barn (with 4 cows and a calf) to their laundry area, where we saw kids hand-washing their own clothes. He also showed us their dormitory and community medical clinic, where German specialists fly in regularly to treat a long line of patients. Teachers also offer sewing and woodshop classes on Saturdays to kids that want to build these skills.

Everybody was very excited to see us. Many of the children came up and greeted us, especially when we joined them in the mulitpurpose room (dining, crafts, dancing etc. happen in this room). They were doing embroidery with string, sewing needles, and paper with designs on them, along with some other crafts. I joined them, and was soon swarmed with people looking at my watch and asking me what time it was.

After I did embroidery for a while, we pulled out the games we brought (Uno and Spot-It) and we instantly had a crowd. However, we had to keep order in the Uno game because people would just place down random cards whenever they wanted to. Eventually we found order in the chaos, but it was still the most heated Uno game I’ve ever played.

After the games, we went inside another room to eat. We were given a different meal than the kids, which we gladly ate because we were given rice and they were given ugali. Ugali has the consistency of a cross between mashed potatoes and playdough. It is ground white maize and is a staple in Kenya. The food was very good, and we were full when we finished.

We brought many books in to donate. Rockrimmon Elementary as well as a few friends generously donated stacks of books (THANK YOU!). After lunch we read to the younger kids. It was fun to see how excited they were about reading books, since they had very few in their library. Some of them wanted to point out every single picture they saw, even when they had no idea what the word was for that item. For example, one of them called a guitar “thrum thrum thrum”.
Overall, I think that our Saturday was well spent going to the home and encouraging these kids. I enjoyed it and so did the entire family. I hope we go back soon.

Their kitchen- check out the pot of sukamawiki (like kale),
another staple for Kenyans. It is often eaten with shredded
carrots and cabbage. They have one refrigerator for 108 kids
and the only thing it was fresh milk. Most of their vegetables
come from their plot of land.