Monday morning we were up early again, this time to board a quick flight to Kisumu, about 200 miles northwest of Nairobi, on the same road that leads through Nakuru. My sister Jean Corey and her husband John adopted Robbie at the New Life Home there in 2004, at the same time that Rene and Tom Barnard adopted Eva. So Kisumu is special if only for those two good reasons, but also because Kisumu is home to John and Prisca Ondeche. They are two of the best people I know.
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| John and Prisca at sunset over Kiboko Bay, where we had dinner Monday night and watched for the hippos who never showed. |
A lot of our family and friends met John when he visited Indianapolis and Culver last April. Those who did probably remember that John said life is like driving a car: You keep your eyes on the road ahead to make sure you reach your destination, but occasionally you glance at the side-view mirror as well. Sometimes, when you see something behind you that needs your attention, you have to stop the car and take care of it.
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| Boaz |
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| Iliad |
What John saw was the babies. It began in 2001, when Kisumu was a satellite of New Life Homes. Prisca, a nurse by training, was the home’s only staff member. John found himself helping her by taking time off from his job as a bank manager to transport abandoned babies in his ’76 VW Rabbit. The VW has since died, but John and Prisca’s life-giving work continues as co-directors of the Kisumu home.
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| Millicent and Noah |
What John saw was the babies. It began in 2001, when Kisumu was a satellite of New Life Homes. Prisca, a nurse by training, was the home’s only staff member. John found himself helping her by taking time off from his job as a bank manager to transport abandoned babies in his ’76 VW Rabbit. The VW has since died, but John and Prisca’s life-giving work continues as co-directors of the Kisumu home.
The buzz at Kisumu today was that Jane had brought with her a copy of the local Winston-Salem TV news story by Wanda Stark about her trip here last fall with Jane. Many of you have seen the story, but if you haven’t, you might want to take a look at http://www.wxii12.com/video/30421908/detail.html.
Jane’s plan was to share the story with the New Life staff. She wanted to make sure they knew that their work is important. What resulted was every member of the staff -- groundskeepers, housekeepers, caregivers, office staff and directors, Kenyans all -- gathered in a babies' playroom wiped spotless after the feeding that had taken place there only moments before, watching a news story about themselves, narrated by an African-American reporter with deep personal interests in adoption themes, on a laptop screen held aloft by a volunteer who had adopted two of her own in Kenya years before.
It was a powerful moment, almost surreal, but definitely good. I'm not sure what happened for each of us in that hot playroom Monday afternoon, but I think it had to do with looking into the side-view mirror together and stopping as one.
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| Kiboko Bay |
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