Crossroads in Kiamaiko

The last day Crossroads spent in Kiamaiko was special.  It was different than the first couple days because after VBS instead of going out into the community and doing "Bring the Light" like we did the first 2 days the community came to us.  The teachers and social workers of Kaimaiko invited the families of the students to come and meet us in the center because they were going to get a special gift.  That day Crossroads handed out "food baskets" to the families of each student attending Kiamaiko center.  These baskets, which were not really baskets at all but rather plastic wash basins, were filled with everything from beans to soap and after assembled they were then handed out to all the families of the students.  It was wonderful to see the Crossroads team come together and give out this gift to the community.  They also were able to really see what kind of things were valuable to these people and how excited they were to get this relatively small (to us Americans) gift.  

The beans came in giant 100lb bags and had to be separated out into smaller bags to be put into each basin.

The basins as they are being assembled and filled by the team.

Here are some of the almost filled basins minus a few items that were given as the basin was passed out. Each basin included the following items: a bottle of soda, salt, sugar, maize, flour, cooking oil, soap, bag of beans, tea, and a few other items

Passing out the basins to a parent.

Children from the community gathered around to see what was happening at the school.

The parents of all the Kiamaiko students could not wait to get their gift and stood in lines waiting to be called forward to received their food basket.