Africa

My parents have been doing a humanitarian project in Kenya, Africa.  They are working with a group of farmers and a local dairy to get native milk on the market.  They have been involved for a little over a year now and I was able to accompany them on their first trip last April.

Since then they have been back and forth a few times, this last trip now lasting two months for my mom and my dad signing on for another! I have really missed them.  I knew I was moving home around the end of April and that I was going to be starting summer school up here in Salt Lake.  The two classes registered for, Statistics and Communications in Organizational Settings, were both going to be a challenge for me and I was excited to have my Dad around to help me.  Little did I know that their recent trip flew them out the very day I moved home and wouldn't have them return until days, and now months for my Dad, after my final exams and papers would be turned in.  Comical.

The only correspondence I have had with them is through email.  I am really grateful for email but it lacks physical connection.  The other day I thought I was going to have the opportunity to Skype with them and I realized then how much I missed seeing them and hearing their voices.  Alas, we were unable and I have since thought a little bit more on how much we have to be grateful for.

The reality struck me that we have email, Skype, telephone communication, etc. that allows us access to nearly every corner of the globe, and how phenomenal that is.  And there my parents sit, in Kenya, Africa, with little orphans who have no underwear, no toilet and no bed.  But with big smiles and open hands they greet us!   I remember being so humbled by their gratitude for life, their contentment with their circumstances and their gratitude for any growth at all.  I fell in love with the African people and will forever look to my experiences with them as examples of Christ-like attributes.