Getting my hands dirty

Just a quick post today, kiddies. Work is busy and my free time is quickly evaporating as I bond with my ladies and prep for Kenya. Le sigh. I can't wait.

This past Saturday the Soulfari group got together and walked through the itinerary and finer details. While I'm sure you're all interested in packing list (and are shocked to find that I'll be wearing scrubs for two weeks), the coolest stuff is what we'll possibly be doing.

1. Building a library.
Although the majority of Kenyans are educated (I think it's roughly 90%), the country doesn't have a good library system. At Villa Teag orphanage, we're going to organize a library system and teach the kids how to check out and share books. To compete this, we're collecting book donations and taking them over in our extra bags. Let me know if you're interested in donating any of the following types of books:

- Hardback storybooks in English for all-ages
- Teacher resource or curriculum books (especially English grammar, math, world history and handwriting)

2. Painting a mural.
Josie Mai (Sarah's older sister and Soulfari Kenya co-founder) is an incredibly gifted artist. She's throwing around the idea of creating a mural at Villa Teag that would feature characters from the books we take over and the kids could help. More details on material needs to come...

3. Interviewing kiddies.
Part of the difficulty of returning home is remembering children that impress us, and not being able to follow their progress. This summer, if logistics work out, we'll be taking pictures of the kids and asking them questions to get a profile started. The hope is that we can create an "adopt a child program" that's specific to this orphanage, and after we return home, continue a relationship and support the child we've interacted with.

It's exciting to have some concrete projects and I'm sure there'll be more added now that Julius is over in Kenya brainstorming. We'll get to do some cool stuff!

Oh, and I'm introducing a new blog addition! Because I heart the Soulfari crew and want to support them while they're gone, I'll end each post with a special shout-out. Right now it's just to Julius (don't you feel special) and in July it'll be to Sarah & Josie too. Holla and pray for the visionaries.

Today's shout-out:
Habari, rafiki! We miss you already, and hope you made it over safely. America is still here, and Kansas City is still hot. (I wish I was in Kenya right now.) Tell your friends I'm jazzed to meet them and I'm brushing up on my swahili so I don't look stupid. Badaye, rockstar!