Kenya - Part 3

Kids love to see pictures of themselves. Whether in Washington, DC or Eburru, Kenya they share the same enthusiasm for seeing themselves and their friends in photos. However, the opportunity for children in the rural farms of Eburru to have a single picture of themselves to keep is unlikely. Before I left for Kenya I purchased a portable printer that also had a battery attached to it so I could print some pics for the kids while I was there. The battery was key since where I was staying had no electricity. With the permission of the teachers I arranged to take school photos of all the students on thursday and on friday afternoon at 3pm I would deliver the prints to the students so they could have their own 4x6 of themselves to take home and share with their family. Simple plan and I had all the bases covered - I thought.

I captured the images on thursday and all the kids (well most) were extremely excited to get their photos taken. Some could barely hold a smile without cracking up. The easy part was done. Now I just needed to print them. However, I failed to realize that my fully charged battery would only have enough juice for about 1/3 the photos I needed to print. I learned this about 9pm Thursday night. So, Friday AM I borrowed a small nearby generator to print out the rest. But the generator died with about 30 pics to go and I needed to head to school to lead chapel service in a few minutes. I went to school and lead service then walked to town (a pleasant 60 min hike uphill at 10k ft in the blazing African sun – details for dramatic effect) where I plugged in my printer at a barber shop that had electricity and a battery charging business on the side. However, I left my memory card with the pics in my hut. Are you kidding me? Really- so stupid. I begged for a ride on a motorbike back to my hut and then back up to town and Kurt graciously agreed. Back at the barber shop I started printing my photos. A crowd grew to about a dozen as they watched ever single image come out of the printer. We had a good laugh at the pics (most of them knew the kids) and I was on my way. I now had 1 hour to hike down to my hut, drop off my printer and walk to school to deliver the pics before the end of school. As always God delivered me with the pics right on time. This was so reminiscent of the way my life is in the US that its scary.

I gave the prints to each of the teachers and sat in while they handed them out. The teachers would announce a student, show their photo for the whole class, everyone would break out into hysterical laughing, and the student would bashfully come to the front to collect their picture. It was an awesome time. Such a simple gift that these kids really loved. One of the last images I have from the day was seeing a whole bunch of the kindergarteners walking home with their backpacks on and their photos in hand, staring at them as they plodded along.