By the time we were on the road again back to the CCF office, we were about half an hour late. Nobody there seemed to mind too much (after all, we see many people on the streets just sitting, not doing anything). I think we were more concerned, because it meant we got less time to spend with our sponsored children.
When we arrived they were singing the same song as the day before:
Happy we are, happy we should be, happy forever more
Singing together, praising the Holy Lord, oh-h He will not fail
I recognised Tom and his father instantly and that was really exciting!
We made our way in and found our respective children and their family members who had come, and the interpreters from CCF helped translate back and forth. Tom was very very shy and I must admit I couldn���t think of many questions to ask. His father asked a lot of questions about New Zealand, how people work, the school system, the food, and some quite profound questions about what people think about Africa and how I felt as a person visiting them; also about poverty in New Zealand and how many people there are Christians. I asked what Tom���s favourite subject at school is (Swahili), what he wants to be when he grows up (a teacher), and what his normal day is like. That was an interesting one. He gets up and prepares himself for school. He goes to school from 8 am until 2 pm, when he goes home and has something to eat if they have any food. Then he helps his mother by fetching water etc. Paul had said to ask them how long it takes to do things like fetching water, so I did. There was some discussion (I suspect because Tom probably doesn���t have a sense of time yet) and I was told, ���Not long; the water is from a pipeline close to their house, so only 15 or 20 minutes.���
Photo of me and Tom, taken at lunch
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