It’s hard to know where to even start with this post! As most of you know, I spent this past weekend in Kenya visiting friends and celebrating the first class 8 to graduate from the AIC Zion school. School looks very different in Kenya than it does here in the U.S. After the students complete primary school (pre-unit through class 8) they take the KCPE exam which will determine which (if any) secondary/form school they will go to. This exam is a huge deal for the kids at AIC Zion, as it is the first step to getting out of the slum. For those that make it to form school, after they complete those 4 years, they will take another test that will determine which University they will attend and what they will be studying (that is all determined by the government based on their scores). There is so much pressure with these tests because if they do not pass, their schooling is done. These students work so hard…their education is everything, and it determines their entire future! Pre-unit through class 7 goes to school 6 days a week and class 8 goes to school 7 days a week from 7am-7pm, with that extra day solely dedicated to preparing for their exam. We left on Monday, and the class 8 students of AIC Zion school and 800,000 other Kenyan students sat for this exam on Tuesday. So, you can imagine that while we were with them, we spent a lot of time celebrating their accomplishment of graduating and getting to this point, but also praying for them as they prepared to take this test! Every time we prayed for these students, they were crying. Crying because they were thankful that we came all that way to celebrate with them. Crying because they were nervous. Crying because (in most cases) they were the first ones in the family that have made it to this point in their schooling. Crying because they’ve studied so hard, and they were finally ready to take this test! This made for an emotional trip, not only for the students, but for us as well!

Now that you know a little bit of the background as to why we visited Kenya and a little bit about their education system, I think it’ll be easiest to share our trip through the pictures below…

Our trip began last Wednesday, when we drove from Pittsburgh to DC. We spent the night at the airport hotel and flew out to Ethiopia Thursday morning. We arrived in Ethiopia at 10:00 AM Friday and made it to Nairobi by noon!

After quickly dropping our things off at the hotel, we headed to Mathare for the class 8 graduation celebration!

The team was introduced…

Then, class 8 was called up and we prayed for them, their exams, and their future!

Soon after, the class 8 students were each given a new Bible and joined by their families as we prayed for them again!

We then called up class 7 to pray for them as they prepare to fill the shoes of class 8! They also called up all the parents of these students, and for those students that didn’t have parents, they asked us to stand up and join them as their parents from the U.S. (…cue the waterworks)

The lunch line…for almost all of these kids, the meals they get at the school are their only meals of the day.

Ann’s mom came up to me after the celebration, hugging me and telling me how much they love me. She told me how Ann holds my picture and cries every time I leave! I was literally doing everything in my power to hold myself together and not start crying myself. She then asked me to come to her home and explained how much of an honor it would be to have me visit (it was so humbling to hear how much I mean to their family)! We were able to do this on Sunday after church, and as we sat in their 8′ x 8′ home that houses 5 people, she kept praising God and telling us how thankful she was to have this home and how it is only because of God that she has been this blessed! (How encouraging and how convicting!)

Justin was asked to dedicate the pencils that the class 8 students would be using for their exams…

On Saturday morning, we headed back to AIC Zion and got to work while the students were in school…

After clearing some piles of dirt, we started painting the children’s center.

Later that afternoon, we visited class 8 and passed out backpacks to each of the students…

They have 3 church services and 2 Sunday School classes that we were a part of on Sunday morning…

I gave Ann and Grace their necklaces and we took some pictures with my Instax (mini polaroid) camera! They were all amazed that the picture popped right out the top of the camera and they starred at the pictures until their faces showed up…

That’s the smile that melts my heart!

After I gave Grace her necklace, she handed me a note that she wrote for me…
“Dear Alison,
Hi, how are you, I hope you are doing well here in Kenya with your team. I would like to welcome you here in Kenya… I would like to thank you for loving and caring for me as if I were  your sister. I believe that if we are not sisters in blood, we are sisters in Christ. May you live longer than Methuselah so that I can keep seeing u. I promise to work hard and pass my final primary exam and go to a good secondary school of my dream. Keep on praying for me as I pray for you and be knowing that God loves you. As you go back to the US say hi to Mike… I wish you a good journey as you travel back to your homeland. I love u Alison. Read Philipians 4:13 and God will make you do everything even if you can’t make it… Go in peace for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord (that was the Bible verse I gave to Ann and Grace last time I left). I would like to be with you in U.S.A one day. Keep on for me. Love you so so so much. GOOD BYE!”

I have received a handful of these letters from Ann and Grace over the last two years and I treasure them so much and read them over and over, reminding myself of their sweet words. In their culture, the women are very shy and do not speak much, so instead, they write notes and hand them to us while we are there!

On Monday, we spent most of the morning playing with the kids before we had to say our goodbyes….

Mike reuniting with Toiley!

Every time before we leave and say our goodbyes, they have a program for us, performing skits, memory verses, songs and more…

At the end of the program we gathered around the class 8, prayed one last time for them and said our goodbyes.

Every year it is hard to say goodbye. Every year I wonder when I will see them next…  As I looked around the room and saw Ann, Grace, Paris, and several other students that I have built relationships with over the years all wiping their tears away, I couldn’t help but just hug them, hold them, tell them how much I love them and how proud I am of them. I tell them that I will see them again and that God has big plans for them! Saying goodbye is always hard, but I can’t help but look forward to the day I am reunited with them!

And a couple from my iPhone…