We had regular rotating activities during the day. Ten of us visited the slum in the afternoon. We met at the orphanage in the evening and surprised the kids by lighting lanterns in the sky. The day ended at the Makani’s house for an amazing Kenyan dinner. I had to push it out of my mind that tomorrow morning we’d be saying goodbye to everyone. At some point in the day, Ezekiel asked me when we were leaving. His response was very frustrated. He pleaded with me to at least stay one more day or to not leave in the morning and stay into the tomorrow evening.

Two things really knocked me off my feet today. One of the stations we were in charge of at the school was face painting. Near the end of the day I saw a couple kids with beards painted on their faces. “Ha, that’s cute.” Then a couple more. Then a few more. Finally I found myself in the middle of a little herd of boys led by Amos. “Do you see us, Nate? We have beards and now we all look like you!” Floodgates.

At the orphanage, we ended up in their big room singing songs together. Kids piled on the floor, kids in our laps, all singing their brains out. At one point I happened to notice a little tike sitting on the couch next to me. He held up his hand. It was wrapped in cloth in the same place my hand has been wrapped in duct tape all week! Floodgates.

When school was about over, Ezekiel asked me if I could ride with them to the orphanage again. I sat him on the ground so I could tell him why I couldn’t today. Seconds later all my lil dudes and dudettes surrounded us to listen. I hesitated for a second‚thinking whether or not to tell them we are going to Kipsongo. Half of them live there. Most of them are from there. Do I tell them we are going to “get a tour?” Like it’s some sort of a spectacle? Ugh. Here are the cliff notes of what kinda spewed out: “After school today, we are going to Kipsongo. I know some of you live there and some of you have friends and family who live there. We are here because we love you. We think that the Makani’s are doing an incredible thing at this school and at the orphanage and are proud to be helping them. Working here and at the orphanage has helped us understand your stories better. Helped us to love you better. When you love someone you want to know everything about them. But we don’t know what it’s like in Kipsongo. So we are going to visit the people in Kipsongo today.”

Silence. Not a peep. All faces looking down into the dirt.