The 24th Day of February
For one little boy living in the Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi, Kenya, the 24th day of February is a very special day. For it is on this day that this same little boy celebrates his birthday. This little boy’s name is David, and it just so happens that I am his sponsor and his friend. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be visiting Kenya on his ninth birthday, and was able to surprise him in his classroom with a party just for him. While I can’t be there with him on his tenth birthday this year, I wanted to celebrate by remembering what I was doing just 365 days ago…
David had no idea I was coming or even visiting Kenya. I never tell him of my visits in advance, as I’d hate to disappoint him if something would prevent me from coming. So, on his birthday, I was quietly waiting in a small office room at David’s school until his class was finished with lunch. Then, I was going to surprise him with a party in his classroom! However, as we were waiting, I noticed a steady line of children passing by outside returning their dishes from lunch to be washed. As each child walked by, their inquisitive faces would briefly peer into the room where I was waiting. All of a sudden, I saw David’s face among those walking by, and as he did a double take, a huge grin came across his face. My cover was blown! But all was not lost. He still didn’t know exactly what we had in store for him!
After a few moments, David’s social worker, Serah, brought us to David’s classroom where he was already sitting at the front of the class. She announced that we were having a special celebration for David’s ninth birthday, and opened up the box sitting on the table to reveal large birthday cake!
I learned that the tradition in Kenya is that I was to cut the cake with David while his classmates sang a special song. I don’t know enough Swahili to understand exactly what they were saying (yet), but my understanding is that it translates into something along the lines of “cut the cake and don’t be afraid.” After cutting the cake, the tradition continued. It was my turn to feed David the first piece. He then returned the favor by feeding a piece back to me. Fortunately, this entire moment was captured on video:
After this, I learned that another tradition is to play some sort of prank on the birthday boy (or girl). In this case, Serah smeared some of the blue frosting all over David’s face. Still not sure what was coming, I braced myself to have frosting smeared on my face, but thankfully (for me, at least) that is not a part of the tradition!
Through the blue frosting, I was happy to see that David had a smile on his face, even if he was slightly embarrassed! It was a wonderful memory, and I was so happy that I could share his special day with him!A few months after that visit to Kenya, I got a letter from David. After talking about his schooling and what he had been up to, he wrote two sentences that I’ll never forget…
“I was so happy for your visit,” he wrote. “My mother was so thankful for the birthday cake.”
Reading those two sentences brought tears to my eyes. Something that we often take so much for granted – a birthday cake on your birthday – meant the world to David and his family. My tears were a mixture of joy and sadness. The joy was being able to share that moment with David. The sadness was for the thousands of other children living in Mathare that probably don’t know what it’s like to have a birthday party.
For so many children living in Mathare, there is no hope of life outside of the slums where they were born. The idea of a birthday party with cake is probably not anything that would even occur to them. The truth is, the best gift they could receive would be an opportunity to go to school, get a good education, and go on to college or university to prepare them for a good job and a life beyond poverty.
We are working to reach more of these children with a message of hope. We’re working to expand our programs so we can get them sponsored, so they can go to school and have access to nutritious meals, medical care, and spiritual and social development. We have somewhere around 12,000 children in our 16 schools right now, but there are at least 100,000 more children still out there, and we want to help them, too.
If you’ve been following along, then you know that I’m moving to Kenya for the next three years to serve with our field team so I can lend my skills in helping to build the necessary infrastructure needed to expand our programs so we can reach more children like David. And I need your support to get there. A gift in support of my work in Kenya is really an investment in the future of our program and the hundreds of thousands of children we hope to reach. I hope you will consider making a one-time gift to help me get to Kenya and start this important work. Any amount helps. Just click the link below to make a donation online.
Today, on the 24th of February, a day that is already special for a little boy living in Mathare, I hope you will help me get to Kenya and work to reach thousands more children with a gift of a quality education, meals, medical care, and spiritual and social development. And, maybe, one day, the gift of a birthday party of their own!
Happy Birthday, David!
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