Today is Palm Sunday, and we observed this special day of the Christian calendar in style. Father Jim came to Hekima Place to celebrate by leading mass in Dominica dining hall. We had no palm fronds, but we did have large stalks of grasses that we waved in a procession around the compound singing “When the Saints Go Marching In”. Inside the hall, Father Jim led us in a shared reading of Mark’s Gospel story of the events leading up to Easter. Communion was celebrated with dancing and singing in Kiswahili. Dance is common in African worship services and I love it! It was a beautiful service - thanks Father Jim!
After lunch, Kate went on a first visit to see little Johnny since he went to live with his adoptive family. He is being adopted by the family of a Cabinet Minister of Special Programs in the Kenyan government. Johnny is the only little boy who has ever lived at Hekima Place with all these girls. Kate took with her some of the Johnny’s best friends and Mum Evey, the mum of his house at Hekima. He now lives in fine style and attends one of the most exclusive private schools in Kenya. Kate reported at dinner that the visit went well. The concern was that seeing his Hekima Mum and friends would make him so sad he’d cry when they left. He did rush into Mum Evey’s arms and cry, but after the all-afternoon visit, he was ok when they left. More visits will follow.
Also after lunch, Blessing’s little Mom and Auntie showed up to visit her. We have been unsure if we would ever see them again, so it was a joyous occasion that they came. They were blown away by the changes in her (as we all have been) in the past two weeks. Hopefully these visits will be regular events and Blessing will grow up knowing not only that she is loved by everyone here at Hekima, but also her mom and auntie. And that in not too many years her mom will be in a position to take care of Blessing herself.
After everything settled down, the girls wanted to go to visit friends at the Good Hope Orphanage, the one affiliated with the school they all attend. Kate insisted they couldn’t go without adults accompanying them, so Mum Lucy, Kinyua, and I hiked down there with them. When we got there, we three adults settled into chairs in the large gathering room on the first floor of the building. Before long all the kids from both orphanages converged in the room and we realized there would be a movie shown on the flat screen TV installed on the wall. I expected a kid appropriate movie of some sort, but what it turned out to be was “The Help”. Of course there’s no overt sex or nudity or foul language, but it tackles such difficult adult topics I couldn’t imagine why they chose that movie to show. I suppose the good thing about the whole situation was that the kids were all making so much noise you couldn’t hear the dialogue. And, though there were sub-titles, I doubt the kids were paying enough attention to read them. We left before the movie was over in order to get back to Hekima in time for dinner. It was just weird - I can’t think of many more inappropriate movies to show to kids in an orphanage in Africa.
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