Happy Birthday

On Saturday afternoon, the EyeCare Kenya team was invited to join a Birthday celebration for 33 of the kids in the orphanage. Since many of these children were orphaned and found, many of their birthdates are unknown. So ELI picks three days per year to celebrate birthdays. For the celebration, the entire orphanage gathers together. They sing and they dance and have cake and candy. (They have candy in Kenya that is, I believe, called Milk Candy. It is a white sucker that tastes like very sweet milk.)

When we came walking up to the central party area, all 96 orphans ran out to meet us. It created this wash of emotion over the group. These happy, bright-eyed kids came running up to our group, grabbed our hands, said “hello” and “welcome” over and over, and smiled and giggled. The energy they generated is nearly indescribable.

I will venture to say that the travel-worn and weary hearts of EyeCare Kenya melted in those few magic moments. Those returning team members were reminded why the long journey was worth its weight in gold and each newbie was finally able to completely wrap their hearts around a mission that had taken them to the small Iowa town on the other side of the Equator.