Report from Nairobi (by way of Betsy Garrard)

Patty called this morning to give a brief report on the impossible things in Mathare this week. Each student created a booklet of his life. Julie and her crew photographed each child and attached a picture to the booklets. Patty said they were the talk of the whole valley. Patty taught a novel in poetry form called Keisha's House, about an orphan teenager in New Yrok who creates a home for other orphans. The kids loved it and wrote their own poems. Will and Miriam helped students create memoirs and then they turned them into one-act plays. Hope they filmed them for all of us. Our Medical Team is amazed at how healthy the children are. The young children -- who have been at Mercy Care only briefly -- had the most health issues and low weights, but the older children were in amazing shape with body mass in 90 percentile. Those 6 lunches a week and our wonderful nurse's care are paying off. We all know how a sense of Hope -- a gift from Patrick, all his teachers, and Mercy Care supporters around teh world -- has impacted our 700+ children. Patty described their dinner at the restaurant Carnivore as a love fest. The question is --- will they tell us what exotic meats they ordered. (I personally will never speak to anyone who ate giraffe or elephant.) Patty called from the animal orphanage, which has a lovely open air restaurant looking over a lake where wart hogs play. They were about to go and visit the rescued animals and for $5 you could pet a cheetah. Hope someone gets up the nerve to do it! Tomorrow they leave for an incredible safari. Keep them in your prayers as they continue to process the meaning in the last 6 days. I would stake my life on the fact that all 700 children will never forget Carol and Wayne Brown and the 21 Americans who have showered them with love.