Bringing Christmas to local street kids

Today we hit the street with our youth, hanging out with some of the local kids in our neighbourhood.

The place we spent the most time in is this empty section about 3 houses down from Caleb's school. In this empty sectioned (it's fenced behind concrete walls), lives a man, a woman and 11 kids. They've built a couple of little shacks in the section, and they also have a tiny little store (its a hole in the concrete wall onto the street) where they sell things like softdrink, soap, tomato paste, and other necessities. The kids are not all the woman and man's, I think maybe 3 of them are... all the others are orphans... either Fatima (the woman) is their real Aunty, and they are her sister's children, or they aren't... it's hard to tell because every women here is your 'sister' and every woman who is older than you or takes care of you is your 'aunty'.  Either way, these two amazing people are taking care of all these kids, sending them to a public school, although they can only afford to send them one or two days a week (note: it costs $150US to send a kid to school for a year, if you are interested in sponsoring one, let us know).  They don't have much, they sleep on the ground, maybe share a couple of packets of 2-minute noodles for lunch or dinner between them.

So, today we blessed them. What an amazing day! Our youth are such amazing teenagers too, just connecting straight away with them, playing games, painting finger nails and reading stories....

I had an awesome conversation with their neighbour who kept saying, you don't know what this means to them, you just don't know, thank you for coming and spending time and getting to know them.  

At the end of our visit, we bought out Christmas presents, the result of our church's 'shoe-box' appeal... these kids were so grateful and happy... the hanging out had been a highlight of their week already, and now this! 

We also blessed Aunty with a massive bag of rice, some big bags of milk powder and some multi-vitamins.  What a beautiful experience.... you know, some people go for years with no recognition of the work that they do in caring for people.

The best part of today for me, was seeing these expat kids connecting with these street kids in such a beautiful way.... that both lots of kids were able to see that below the surface, we truly have the same desire for love, acceptance and the same hopes and dreams.  I hope this is a memory that will stay with all of them forever!

A day in the life...

What a wonderful Saturday!  It follows a week and a half of Malaria induced headaches, nausea, cramps and exhaustation... and with the medication and 2 days of bed rest, I feel so much better!
LCF has been collecting Christmas shoe-boxes for a tiny percentage of the less fortunate kids in Lagos, and tomorrow we are taking the youth, and visiting some of the local street kids around our neighbourhood - playing games, telling stories and giving them presents. After telling our driver to take us to the nearby Lekki markets, he suggested heading into the heart of Lagos, where goods are the cheapest anywhere.... this is where the other shop and market traders purchase their goods from. 
So, back we went to the craziness of Lagos markets.... Oh how I love it! I am so grateful that we have the freedom to go and explore these places. We invited friends of ours who work for Mobil, and they can't go there unless they have security with them. Teachers are probably the minority of expats who are free to do this. 
Our driver is such a legend, at times I was running to keep up with him... I don't know how many times we nearly got bowled by cars, motorbikes, buses... ducking and weaving through what felt like a million people. The city centre is so crazy. From what I have read, it is one of the best African markets.... it is huge. Blocks and blocks and blocks of stalls and street sellers... and the people! Wow!! So many! 
And while the general experience was fantastic, I did witness something I wished I hadn't.  A man was getting beaten up, from police, from other people.... everyone was having a go.... John (our driver) said that he was most likely caught pick-pocketing or stealing.  I know that Lagos has a bad reputation, but to be honest, there is so little petty crime.... people here just don't stand for it. If it was later in the evening, or at night, John said he would be a 'dead man'.... We have heard stories about people having tyres thrown over them, then been doused with petrol and set alight, because someone had tried to steal something from a street stall.
It's terrible, even the Nigerian church ministers don't see it as a bad thing.... the person gets what they deserve, apparently. It's not good. We have met a missionary here who runs a theology college, where they are faced with the enormous challenge of transforming the wrong doctrine of the majority of locals.C'mon guys, it's about grace and love remember! Go against the 'norm'.
It makes me so sad, because chances are, these people are stealing because they are starving, or maybe they have babies who are starving.... these people know what the consequences of their actions will be if they are caught.... but yet they still do it. It has to driven by a sense of desperation.  But that is still no excuse... yes, there are a million people all trying to make a few naira (1 naira = 1 cent NZ... to put it in perspective, you can get your shoes shined for 25 naira, can get a feed of beans and rice for 100 naira), but at least these people are trying to make an honest living... chasing cars a block down the street to finalise a sale on a 200 naira phone card, or a 300 naira bunch of bananas).


Anyway, I've digressed. We ended up getting so much fantastic stuff to fill our shoe-boxes with. I am so excited about handing out these presents tomorrow :)


After that, I had a visit from my tailor. That in itself was a novelty, a first for me, but I thought I'd blog about it, as it is something that could just be passed off as 'normal'. Sometimes I forget that what is 'normal' here is so far from normal back home, so I just need to remember to keep my outside perspective eyes on so I can keep a record of these experiences.  I've got a wedding to go to on Saturday. The wedding of one of my Teaching Assistants. I'm so excited for her! 
I'm also very excited about having my first Nigerian traditional dress. I'm a bit nervous about how it will turn out.... I'll definitely post some pictures once it's done.