Mother Esther School

Yesterday was another humbling day. Lauren (mentioned previously) took me to work with her. She works part time as a lecturer and part time as a school administrator at Mother Esther School (click here to learn more about the school).

When we first arrived at the school, I was given a tour and the opportunity to meet all of the students. The children were all very happy at Mother Esther and were excited to show Lauren and me what they were learning that day.

The pupils are primarily from the Masai Tribe (mentioned in previous posts). Some students are allowed to attend school with their parents' permission. Other students are now under the legal guardianship of the school administration after they were rescued from child marriages or from the threat of such circumstances. These young folks come from families that still uphold traditional Masai values where child marriage is still widely practiced. Mother Esther seeks to keep young folks in school and out of child marriages. I met a few young women who had recently been rescued from marriages. One second grader had been married to a man who was nearly twenty years her senior. Hearing these stories and meeting these students broke my heart. But, then seeing the impact of Mother Esther on them helped me glue it back together.

I know some people have been interested in supporting me/my church/people I've met financially. This would be a great way to do that... If you are interested in helping support this amazing institution please consider donating by clicking here. They are doing such phenomenal work with some special young'ins.

Click here to read up on the history of the school. I don't want to steal the website's thunder, but here are some basics... It was started in 2015 after 26 girls ran away from home to pursue education. A small building (the tin building in the picture below) was built shortly after. It was used as a dorm, classroom, sanctuary, and dining hall. Now they have multiple facilities to accommodate the needs of the students and staff. Mother Esther School has continued to grow and expand. They now have over 60 students and were able to hire teachers for the first time in January (they had volunteer teachers before). This institution continues to expand and is making a huge difference in the lives of these young people.

I spent most of the day shadowing Lauren as she met with teachers. This was an awesome opportunity to see how a clergywoman handled herself as the boss (and she was a total 'boss' at it). Through sitting in these meetings I learned so much about professionalism and I know it will come in handy one day.

One of the perks of the day was meeting Chase (pictured below). He was one of the youth at Lauren's church when she was an Associate Pastor in New Jersey. Chase is working as an intern at Mother Esther School for a few weeks this summer. He's just finished his first year of undergrad and I met him at the end of his first week as an intern. We both had a lot to debrief about and we had so much fun swapping stories. Another major perk of the day, is that Lauren treated us both to burgers on the way home.

Y'all. I can not even begin to explain how happy I was to eat this meal. I've basically gone vegetarian for most of this trip. Goat meat (tastier than you might think) is the primary source of protein in the Kenyan diet and it often has bone fragments mixed in (yes, it makes me nauseous every time I get bone in my mouth). Most meats here are much tougher than the meat I'm used to eating at home and I struggle with the texture. After trying really hard the first few weeks, I now eat as little meat as I can get away with. Don't worry, I eat eggs, beans, and some breakfast meats to get protein. I was pumped to have a gourmet burger (with cheese - another major food I've been craving). I mean look at it..... have you ever seen a more beautiful meal?

Yesterday was definitely in my top 3 favorite days in Kenya. Adorable little ones, fellow mzungus who miss cheese, and an "American" meal.... what could be more perfect?

~ Nell in Nairobi