My visit to Eldoret to Visit Maruge

I am very excited to visit Maruge in his village Eldoret!


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Visitng Panthers School

Today I went to visit Panther's School in Southern Sudan. Today was different then any other journey I have been on. Today was filled with tears, laughter, and amazing achievements.




I walked in to the school, a herd of tiny black heads crowed around me and before I knew it I had hands covering me from head to toe, surrounding me in a black silk blanket. I looked at Panther to see what his response was to all of this attention. He was on the ground laughing. Laughing. I was so overwhelmed and he was laughing! I think he saw the funny, surprised, and uncomfortable look on my face because he said something in Sudanese and the kids backed off a little. I looked at each kid and smiled "slam alikum" I said which means hello in Sudense. They all suddenly started to giggle and giggle and giggle. After about 20 minutes of giggle brake outs here and there every one settled down and Panther led us into the school room. I was amazed how colorful and alive the classroom was. A giant green, red, black, blue, and yellow flag hung across the green chalk board. I ran my fingers along all of the wild drawings the kids had made of flowers, rainbows, faces, mothers, fathers, trees and many many more. I sat down on a small wooden stool at the back of the classroom and listened to one of the teachers read a book out loud about a small girl and her goat. After the book was over it was snack time for the kids they had some sort of mushy rice. I decided to be adventurous and try a little. I lifted the spoon up to my nose and inhaled the aroma of sweet rice. Since it smelled soooo good i lowered it to my mouth a took a tiny bite. My taste buds started to tingle. It was a good taste. A different taste. A strange taste. But yes a good taste. I ate a little more and looked at Panther to see what the next activity was. Panther looked at me and waved me to follow him. I followed him all the way over to a huge field. We reached the topped of the hill just in time to watch a  herd of zebras crossing the field. Everyone got dead silent. We waited. waited. Waited for the animals to run away from us. But they didn't. They came. They came closer and closer now running towards us but nobody moved! We were standing in the middle of a wild herd running around us. Running. Running fast. When the zebras were done almost running over all of us over the kids fell on the ground laughing! I even fell myself surprised to be laughing instead of crying. After all the laughter was over and the little cracks of laugh were done we all laid there. Silent yet again. Panther called out to children something in sudenese that i didnt understand but before i knew it they all had books in there hands and were reading. They read all the way until the beautiful african sun started to set then Panther yelled something again in Sudanese and the books were gone. Everyone gathered in a straight line and held hands. A little girl whose name was Zeneb looked at my hand. She grabbed my hand but didnt quite hold it yet she compared our colors then dropped my hand and stepped away. Panther bent down next to her, looked in the eyes, and said 5 words that I wil NEVER forget. He said "Do not compare, just love." She then stepped back over to me and grasped my hand tighter then i have ever been grasped before. I looked down at her and gave her a hug. After the sun dipped into its long rest until morning we all ran back down the hill where the loving parents waited to collect there eager little learners. After the last child went home I took the bus back to the village, went into my hut, and fell asleep. Ready for the next day.

My Stop In Eldoret, Kenya

            On my way home from South Sudan, I stopped in Kenya. I was invited to the village of Eldoret.




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