I was thinking the other day that many people may not know how this WAK (We Are Kenya) initiative got started, so I decided to take the next few weeks and blog the story as I know it.
First off, my name is Kim and I am the mother of three adorable children that keep me very busy. So, hopefully, I will blog at least once per week.
Every mother jumps at the opportunity to talk about their little ones, and since they are the reason we are able to tell this story, I am going to jump!
My husband Jeromy and I, have a daughter named Sundi who is five, a son Damon who is two, and an infant Jasiri, also a boy, who is five months. Our eldest two are adopted, and that is where the story begins…well, sort of.
While my husband and I were dating, we decided that should we marry, we would grow our family first through adoption and then consider biological children later. After we were married, we began to plan for an adoption to India. However, when the opportunity for Jeromy to travel to Kenya came up, he jumped at it hoping to make some connections and learn a little more about the adoption process. Of course, anyone who has visited an orphanage in a third world country can figure out where this is headed.
Yes, he fell in love. Her name was Sandy and she was two. Jeromy met her on a day trip intended to explore missions in the Nairobi area that ministered specifically to orphans. While on that visit, he met children in the slums of Kibera, Balozi, and Soweto. All hungry not only for food, but for opportunity. Opportunity to learn, grow, play, and just be kids. Poverty has a way of stealing such luxuries from those it plagues.
One thing that amazed Jeromy while on this trip was the heart of the workers he met, who took of the little they had to reach out and try to better a child’s life. One such worker’s name was Samuel. Samuel, the father of six children, four biological and two adopted, was known as “Baba” by nearly a hundred children in the slum of Soweto. Here, he took donations and money from his own pocket to run a feeding program to give street children one meal every few days. While feeding their stomachs, Samuel and his workers also taught the children songs and stories from the Bible to give them hope and direction.
I remember when Jeromy brought home the video clip of the children singing. It made me cry to see these little people with little more than a shirt and pants sing and clap their hands as if they had everything to be happy about. It hurt that so often with my wardrobe full of clothes and cupboards full of food, I can’t seem to find the joy they so naturally seemed to have.
To make a long story short, Jeromy came home with a burden to help.
