St. Catherine's Primary School in Nangina, Kenya

Yesterday we journeyed to Kenya to visit St. Catherine's primary school for girls in Nangina, which is just over the border with Uganda. We have known about this wonderful school for several years ever since one of our UA alums introduced us to the principal, Sr. Ann Onyancha. The school was actually started by the Ursulines from Belgium but was later given over to the local Kenyan sisters, the Sisters of Mary.

When we told Sister Ann that we were coming, she expressed great joy but did inform us that the students are on Easter holiday so we wouldn't get a chance to see too many of them. We were expecting a lovely but quiet welcome from the sisters. Well, our welcome was another magnificent and humbling experience. Even though they were on holiday, several teachers and students took the time to come to the school to welcome us. The students even put on a play for us and performed some of their favorite dances! Their play was amazing - all about human rights and about the responsibility to act morally. These girls are so smart and talented!

The sisters welcomed us so warmly - Sr. Gretchen, the youngest sister, prepared a FEAST for us of soup, friend chicken, rice, pasta, cabbage, greens, eggs and more (it was delicious!). Then, when we thought the meal was over, Sr. Gretchen and Sr. Ann came dancing and singing around the corner carrying a giant cake for us which we insisted on sharing with the teachers and students because their generosity was just too much. In fact, they even honored us by inviting their local priest, Father Francis, to come meet us and join our wonderful meal. He was a lovely, gentle man who celebrated us with his kind words about the USA and about President Obama (Kenya particularly loves President Obama as you might imagine since his father was from Kenya - from an area near the home of Father Francis as it happens).

Father Francis also thanked us because part of the gift that our UA students gave to St. Catherine's last year helped one of his dear orphan students, Ruth, finish her schooling at St. Catherine's and to go on to secondary school. He brought tears to our eyes when he said that the support from our UA girls made all the difference in the life of this young girl who is so smart, loves volleyball and has no family to help pay for her education. Sr. Ann also introduced us to Sharon, an orphan who has lost both parents - known as a "total orphan" in Africa - and she said that it was the money from UA that had paid for Sharon's school year because she was the student most in need. Needless to say, we were humbled and honored and so, so proud of our students back home in Dallas who, through sales of Intramural T-shirts and Penny Wars, have helped these beautiful girls so much like them but also a world away. In fact, Sr. Ann had a photo of our UA Art club (the T-shirt sellers) posted proudly on her office bulletin board. We were thrilled to bring her a new photo of the Art club along with a new donation to help more girls this year. A million thanks to the Art Club and Mr. Thompson back home who made all of this possible as well as to our awesome UA student Council for selecting St. Catherine's as the beneficiary of our Catholic Schools Week Penny Wars!!!

As if all of this emotion weren't enough, we were, of course, touched by the preciousness of the girls of St. Catherine's. Not only were they so articulate and smart in their play, but they were also so affectionate and sweet to us. One little girl kept tugging at Maluza and so Maluza bent down to talk to her and to ask her name. The girl was actually named "Regina" which is the same name as Maluza's daughter!! We already went through a huge emotional moment when Maluza almost left the Sanyu babies home with little Isaac (the same name as her youngest son) and now this... I thought Maluza might really lose it because I almost did but she remained calm and kept talking to the little girl - now all we need is to find a little David (the name of Maluza's oldest son) and that will pretty much do us in... So today all Maluza talked about were her "African Children."

Erin also had a pretty special moment with a large group of girls who asked her about the USA. They told her that they imagined that it was a perfect paradise. Then they asked her if she has water in the USA. Erin handled it beautifully - She said "Yes, I have water at home and at school - I am very, very lucky - but I also think Kenya is paradise because it is so beautiful here." This moment brought home to each of us all of the beauty and all of the massive challenges that these children face growing up in rural Africa. Can you imagine that the greatest dream of a little child is to have available water? I think that we all know that this reality exists but it's a whole other thing to have those little faces staring up at you and to know that they have to struggle for water every single day.

Despite knowing how challenging life is for those at St. Catherine's, our time there was nothing but joyful and precious. The sisters so impressed us with their dedicated work, their loving hearts and even their dancing feet! It was a day that we will remember for a long, long time...