Run Data Run - Joytown (Half)Day 12

A quick and uneventful day today as we spent the afternoon "home" at SACDEP to finish spreadsheets and crunch data into graphs and meaningful information.

The team headed to Joytown in the morning like normal for devotionals, which were led by Nicole and I. We focused on 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 and each shared on the idea of Christ's (God's) power being made perfect in our weakness. Nicole expressed how focusing on self iniquities goes nowhere but that serving others brings joy and growth. I shared the Parable of the Cracked Pot which basically expresses the idea that we do not need to be perfect to fulfill God's will and serve others. In fact, God uses our specific weaknesses/cracks for good. We really are all crack pots… :)

The rest of the morning we double checked student demographic information with the Bethany Kids therapists then headed back to SACDEP for a home-base day of working on spreadsheets and stuff.

Other events from the "uneventful" day:

Really good team prayer meeting where we shared a praise about things that made us happy and specific relationships to pray for.
Stuffy nose and sore throat still lingering but feeling better
Prepping power point for pres to high school on Thursday (tomorrow)
Realization that our often quoted Swahili phrase "Ni poa ku chill", which we thought was a super cool 'way to say "I'm cool" or "I'm doing good", is actually and abstinence tag line that contextually means "It's cool to wait". Good thing we haven't been spouting the phrase all over Kenya… oh wait, we have...

Ni poa ku chill!

Comments

And Now Presenting… - Joytown Day 13

Our whirlwind day of presentation (no wheelchair pun intended) began with a formal presentation to the Joytown secondary school (high school) and ended with a true Kenyan-style impromptu pres to the primary students and teachers. We carefully planned a presentation to the high school students, even creating a powerpoint to share with them containing graphs of the finalized data and pictures from the study. We miraculously packed 20+ people and wheelchairs into a computer room of the school library that was really only designed for 10 or so comfortably. We shared our data results and the Tinsley family shared some really encouraging words to the teens/young adults, urging them to realize that they are fearfully and wonderfully made by God for great purposes in this world. After exchanging contact information with one of the head-teachers who organized the high school participation in our study, (once she had told us about three different ways about the high school exchange progra...

Joy for Joytown!

Today was our first visit to Joytown and the first day to start setting up and collecting data for our research. We had breakfast at the SACDEP ("hotel" where we are staying) dining hall then loaded up the van a little after 8:00am for the 5-minute ride over to Joytown Primary School . We arrived at Joytown and joined the Bethany Kids therapy staff in their morning devo. As soon as we stepped in the door there was a flurry of greetings and handshakes and smiles. The handshakes and waves of jambo continued as we toured around the school campus and met with the headmaster. The staff expressed their excitement in our presence and work at the school and invited us fully into their space. Looking around, I'd catch the eyes of different kids staring at me and would watch as my smile turned a stern or blank face into an explosion of light and joy contained in their shy, excited returning smile. Joytown is quite different than what I expected. It's that feeling that com...

Clinic and Karibu - Joytown Day 8

Karibu! No not the animal, the Swahili word meaning 'welcome'. Today was significant in that I finally felt welcome as part of the community at joytown and no longer a visitor. I've built relationships with the BethanyKids therapists and am able to recognize/name a large portion of the kids. At the end of the school day around 3:30, we have an ever growing number of kids inching into our work building and crowding around our stations, usually centered around a computer. I guess I never really expected to build friendships with therapists at Joytown, my perception of it was always centered around the research and the children. However, I am so glad for our relationships so far! Today we continued with data collection but with the interesting component of the mobile clinic visiting day. Surprisingly, besides moving the location of our 10:30 tea and 1:00 lunch, the clinic did not interfere one bit. On the contrary, it provided some awesome opportunity for conversation ...

Redhead Steps Around the World

Search This Blog