Beauty Among Ashes

There is no way to prepare for today.  Even though we have driven past slums for three weeks, today we were invited to a few of the homes of some of the students. 

The Graduating Class of 2013


In the morning, we were invited to sit in some of the classrooms.  With each room, we became more and more impressed with how bright the students were and what good teaching they were receiving.  Then, I got to see the graduating class from the high school, as Ginger presented them with Bibles and much love and instruction about their future.  These students have won area awards in academics and have such ambitious goals to become teachers, doctors, civil engineers, chemists, etc.  All of them so grateful for the chance at a good life.

But, after a morning of enjoying these beautiful children, Peter, the elder of Dandora, showed up to take us on a tour of the neighborhood. 

 

As we rounded the corner, there were long corridors of lean twos.   We walked about halfway down this lane and then entered into a courtyard.  We had to duck under a piece of sheet metal and were immediately hit with the singeing smell of urine. The road itself was made of garbage-broken glass, human feces, and every kind of trash. 

We were told to climb over some rocks to the entrance of the home of the first student. She lives here with her mother and 2 siblings.  As I started up the mound, a cat came springing out of the middle of trash.  I quickly walked by hoping that it wasn’t being chased by a rat.

At first, I didn’t understand what our guide was pointing out.  This is where one of the students live?  How could anyone live here?  

Then, I saw the mom. There she sat in this room that was smaller than my bathroom.  She was paying rent to live here. We visited for a few minutes, prayed over her, handed her some money and left.  The room they had been living in had the roof collapse in the rain last night and they had to move quickly.

 As we were walking through the neighbor hood, we ran into a pastor that was at the seminar and also at church on Sunday.  He was articulate, clean, well dressed and so generous. Yet, here he stood with his family living in this area.  

The counselor and human resource person from the school lived her too.  And so many of those bright eyed students lived here.

How could these students get such good grades? Where do they study? How can they come to school in such clean clothes? How can they make it on one meal a day?

And how can they be so cheerful?  These parents had actually formed a PTA and raised money, one 1/2 shilling at time, to build a wall around the playground at school.  

I started to understand what KDS and this school meant to the area.  It truly is heaven in the midst of such terrible suffering. Thank you, God, for the vision of these hard working people who make it happen.  Thank you for the work they do each and ever day to bring hope to those who are suffering.