The community of Kiamaiko is where Charles, the boy that I sponsor, goes to school. My church, Crossroads Church, sponsors this school and over 500 of the children who attend. It is an amazing place. The school of Kiamaiko is a bright light in a very dark place. This is a place where children actually want to go to school. The street kids look in and see the students learning, laughing, and being fed and they all wish to have what they do.
My good friend and über talented photographer Logan Cole took one of the most moving images last year at the gates of Kiamaiko Elementary School. These are children looking in on sponsored students who are being cared for by teachers and missionaries and receiving medical care by doctors and nurses. They stood there pressed up against the gate all day.
As Americans, we have the right to an education and medical care. Even for those who don’t have a lot of money, our goverment requires children to attend school and offers free clinics for medicine. So often we forget how fortunate we are to live where we do. Yet, we still complain about the smallest things like homework, traffic, and the Starbucks line being to long.
I was able to visit Kiamaiko this past week and sat by that same gate for a long time. Some of the kids even remembered me from the year before. And there they stood, pressed up against the gate all day. From a distance you see sadness, sorrow, and despair, but up close, I saw hope.
