Chapati-CHOP

What a great day in Kenya!!!! Today was filled with many blessings for our entire team as we visited Comfort the Children International (www.ctcinternational.org), worked at Naomi’s Village, and celebrated the day by eating at a lovely Kenyan restaurant.

The passion that God has given me is one of love for people with disabilities, so this was a dream come true as we visited Comfort the Children today. CTC is an organization that is focused on giving kids with a disability in this area a chance to receive an education, as well as give their mothers a way to earn an income to care for them. There are nine woman that work at this organization that have been left by their husbands due to the birth of their child with a disability. Many of the kids with disabilities in this nation are cast out of society, locked in dog kennels, tied to trees, or even killed because this country has very limited education on how to care for these wonderful people. They believe that there is no chance for them in life and literally treat them like animals. Comfort the Children has started a movement, in what I believe, will impact this community as well as other communities in more nations. They have given these students an opportunity to receive an education and just be loved by people, as well as educate the community that these people are still God’s children. People with disabilities are not “nothing”; they are something so significant to this world. God has created them in the U.S. and Kenya and every other nation for so many reasons. Today, the mothers were so encouraged by listening to stories I was able to share about the same population I work with in the States. They seemed so surprised that there were kids in the states just like theirs. They had no education about disabilities until now!! We were able to go into the classrooms and just play around with the kids. I was able to play with a boy named George, who has Down syndrome. He completely was putting on some karate chop moves on some of us, climb all over us, and just sit and laugh about some random things. The kids sang to us, which really made many of us tear up. It was wonderful standing in the midst of something big. God has such big plans for this population in this area and it will be great to see what He does here. I was clearly shown the love of Christ today through the people of this organization and these kids.

At Naomi’s Village today, we were able to clear out more rooms of the orphanage so now it is another step closer to serving these kids. It is amazing to sit in the rooms of this building and just imagine the giggles, laughter, and see the smiles on the kids faces. I can just see the life that is in this place before it is ever finished. Another great thing was just to sit and listen to the passion that the Mendonsa’s have for this place. God has given them incredible hearts and it has been a huge blessing to serve Christ alongside of my fellow Baylor Bears the past few days.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for our team as we go back to the IDP camp for movie night tomorrow, as well as for continued health of our team.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

-Lindsey Castilleja