Crossroads at Joska

The last part of Crossroad's trip was spent at the MoHI boarding school, Joska.  It was an amazing time that I was able to be a part of as I was not technically a part of the Crossroads mission team.  They came out to the school on a Sunday morning for church like many teams do, but instead of going home at the end of the day they stayed two nights until Tuesday.  

While there Crossroads ran VBS for the young kids of Joska who are from the local village and attend primary school there.  The kids there had never been a part of VBS so that was amazing for them to get to be a part of that.  They also did VBS well a version of it for the kids of Joska.  I say a version of, because the Joska students are middle-school age, a little old for typical VBS like the primary school children.  Many of the Crossroads team was really able to connect with the Joska students by taking them out on prayer walks, leading them in a skit or dance and just staying with the class to talk and get to know them.  As a part of the "VBS" for the Joska students they were taught how to make lanyards out of the plastic strings like we do in the states and the kids just loved it.  They made them into bracelets, necklaces and whatever they could.  The kids were also taught how to fly kites like many American children love to do and being that there is a huge open field in Joska, it was a great place for them to learn.  One of the biggest things that Crossroads did for the Joska students was a hamburger bbq.  A majority of the children had never had a hamburger before in their lives and so for the first time we were able to give them one of America's favorite meals.  Except one difference, for the children of Joska a single hamburger is not enough food for a meal so we served the hamburgers to the kids as a "snack" between lunch and dinner.  

As I try to write everything that we did while at Joska in those 3 days I get to the point of realization that I will never really be able to write it all down.  I can just share a few of the things that we did and share some pictures.  It was truly an amazing experience and I can say that Crossroads has really set the bar for future trips to Kenya.  

We bunked in the girls dorm room on the beds that the Joska girls sleep in.  

The guys cooked 1500 hamburgers on charcoal stoves over 2 days for the Joska students to eat as a "snack" between lunch and dinner.

After the hamburger patties were cooked the hundreds of burgers had to be assembled with fresh grown onions and tomatoes.  When the kids got their burgers they got a choice of ketchup and/or mustard (we learned they do not really like mustard) tortilla chips and a soda.

Crossroads spoke to AYSO soccer and they donated full uniforms for the soccer teams at Joska.  These are the 2 Joska girls teams in their spiffy new uniforms and below are the 2 boys teams.