Celebration with the Vision Trip

After nine months of coming to the CFA center at Banana Hill Baptist Church, meeting with community health workers in their homes, and attending seminars to find ways to support themselves, about 70 clients are ready to graduate from the CARE for AIDS program in Banana. To honor the transformation that they have experienced, we decided to hold a special day at the church on Saturday for the clients, their families, and the visiting team from the States to celebrate together. It turned out to be a fantastic and moving day, and it was a great start to the vision trip for all of our guests.

Saturday was a gorgeous, warm, and sunny day in Kenya, and our team of 11 Americans joined most of the CFA staff from this region at the church around 10am. We arrived to find a group of close to a hundred children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, waiting on us at the church. Most of them were children of the clients, and they were about to burst with excitement and energy! The kids split up into three groups and spent the next couple of hours rotating between several stations - coloring with crayons, hearing Bible stories, making bracelets, and playing outside with jumpropes and soccer balls. The team also brought along a bunch of balloons and little bottles of bubbles, which were a HUGE hit! It's hard not to have a great morning when you are surrounded by dozens of excited African kids, and I think it was a great introduction to Kenya!

While we were playing with the kids, a group of about a dozen clients were helping our staff to prepare lunch for everyone in attendance - about 200 people total! They cooked up a giant meal of rice, potatoes, and vegetables over the course of several hours of chopping, peeling, and cooking over open fires. Around 1 o'clock we all received a heaping plate and sat down to enjoy the meal, thanking the proud women profusely for their hard work!

After lunch the team and all of the clients met together in the church for a few hours. We listened to the center workers and some of the CFA staff encourage the clients and thank God for the way He has touched their lives, and then we joined with everyone for some rousing Kenyan songs - which included all kinds of clapping and dancing around! Finally, we got to hear testimonies from several clients who have experienced a major change in their lives over the past year, which was a touching and inspiring experience. It was such a blessing to share this joyous time with them - Joseph and Margaret spoke about the clients' improvement like proud parents, and all of the clients were beaming with giant smiles while they praised God for the new hope they have received. I remember meeting with this same group of clients 7 months ago, and it's hard to describe the change in their demeanor that has occurred since then - it truly is a case of joy and hope replacing sadness and despair, and for that we all give the glory to God!