Saying goodbye

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The day I have been dreading for weeks has finally come, saying goodbye. While my adventure here is not over the time to say goodbye to the children of Meru Peak has come. I can honestly say that walking away from Meru Peak on friday afternoon was the hardest thing I have ever done. The children there have filled me with so much joy and even in the face of extreme poverty, incredible hope. While the frustration for what their lives will inevitaby hold was at times overpowering, just seeing a smile come across their faces made it bearable. If the last three weeks has taught me anything it is as my friend Kito says everyday, life in africa is crazy.
It should not be so difficult and no one should have to live in the conditions many of these children do. The hardest past is that it is likey the only life they will ever know. I have learned an incredible amount from Baba Juma over the last couple weeks for which I will be eternally grateful. He is an extraordinary man who has given a number of these children a brighter future simplyby openin his doors. On my last ay at Meru Peak I was asking him to go over the financial statements with me, and it became immeadiately clear that much of what happens at Meru Peak comes from his own pocket. For roughly $800 Dollars per year Meru Peak can educate and feed nearly 60 children. Amazing, yet it comes at great sacrifice. If they get nothing else from the experience, at least it provides a safe haven for part of the day and keeps the children out of the streets and gives them a chance of entering the government primary schools when they are old enough. He and his family have sacrificed to provide this opportunity to so many, his older daughters can not attend university becuase there is no money to pay since all the money goes towards the school. In three weeks I did not hear a single complaint about this, a desire for education certainly, but not one complaint.
And while most of the children have some family, Mama and Baba Juma preside over all of them as parents. Right before my arrival at Meru Peak one of the young boys, Apthumani, was orpaned, and without missing a beat he took the last name Juma and officially became a member of the family. It is true what they say, it takes a village to raise a child. No where could this be more true than at the heart of one of the poorest nations on the planet.
I will save the stories of individual children for another day, and for some I am not sure I will ever be able to find the words for what I have seen overthe past three weeks.
The day ended with us thanking the children for all they have taught us, them singing and singing some more, and a thank you message Baba Juma translated from the students that brought us all to tears. I am not sure they really understood that we were leaving, or why we were crying. I am not sure how often they have seen white people cry. And after weeks of me drying many of their tears, on friday afternoon, 5 year old Yohanna was drying mine. The future is bleak for these children, yet still they give me hope. Even in the face of povery, hunger and death they smile. Huge, beautiful smiles. You really have never seen anything quite like it.

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