There was a moment of stunned silence as the teens stopped cheering. Suddenly they burst out laughing. Even little Daniel and Isaiah were clapping their hands and giggling in glee. All except Skeeter, that is. “Hey!” he yelled in outrage as he stood to his feet. “Those are our samosas! Come back, you thief!” He shook his fist after the dog.
“Too late, Skeeter!” Dan laughed. “He’s not bringing them back. In fact, they were probably gone in one gulp! I guess Buddy figures if anyone’s going to steal food it’s going to be him, not a troop of monkeys!”
Pastor Tim began the blessing over again and they finally settled down to enjoy the lunch Jane had made. Samosas were little triangles of pastry, rather like turnovers, filled with meat and vegetables. The teens loved them. They gobbled them down quickly. “Hey, I’ll bet if we took these to America we could put McDonalds and Burger King out of business!” Skeeter said as he ate the very last one.
The teens were ready to get back to work at the mission station after lunch was over. The team at the school was going to present a little program in the English classes about America. The orphanage team was ready to start painting while the little ones were taking their naps and the bigger children were still at school. The Cameron’s team planned to do a puppet show in the children’s ward, as they had prom ised, and visit in the women’s ward. They had little gifts they wanted to give to the ladies there—soft hand towels and little bars of sweet-smelling soap.
“Hannah, please stay here and rest this afternoon with your brothers and sisters,” Rachel encouraged her. “Joel should not be on his foot today, and it is too far for him to walk back to your house in the village. It is cool in here and perhaps the little ones will sleep. You should sleep, too, dear. I am sure you must be exhausted after all that has happened this last week. Jane will be here if you need anything.”
“Oh, we cannot stay in your beautiful house!” Hannah protested. “We can stay outside until Joel can walk.”
“I think my wife is right,” Steve said. “We will meet with Pastor Phil and Dr. Bob tonight and see what we can do to help you and your family, Hannah. Until then we would be pleased if you would stay. We feel that the Lord sent you to us—or us to you—and He wants us to help. Okay?”
Hannah looked at the two kind Americans, and the group of concerned teenagers gathered around her. She nodded slowly and bowed her head. “Thank you,” she said softly. “We will stay.”
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CHAPTER SIX
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Home is Where the Heart Is
Kristi looked up just in time to see a little lizard skitter across the wall above her head. “Eek!” she squealed and ducked. She looked at the ceiling above her in the shower stall and realized there was no ceiling—the shower was open to the rafters in the roof. That must be how the lizard got in, she thought.
She hurried with the rest of her lukewarm shower—actually, more of a drizzle. With twenty-four people in the guest house, and the need to conserve water, they had made a schedule for showering. They only got a shower every third day—the rest of the time they simply washed up in the kitchen or bathroom. Four people showered in the morning, and four people at night so they wouldn’t monopolize the bathroom. It was finally her turn and she had gotten up early in order to get her five minutes in peace.
She tried to ignore the lizard, and not think about any spiders that might be lurking, and thought about the meeting they had had with the missionaries the night before instead.
Phil and Julie Williams had been shocked to hear of Hannah’s mother’s death. The Mbati family had not been to church for several months while she was ill, and Hannah had not come to them for help during that time. They lived on the outskirts of town, and when Pastor Phil had gone looking for them someone had told him they had moved away.
“I am so sorry, Hannah,” Pastor Phil said. “I had no idea you were going through such trouble. I should have looked for you harder.”
The other missionaries had not known the family that well. The Mbati children had gone to the village school, rather than the mission school, and Hannah’s mother had refused to go to the mission hospital when she got sick because she had no way to pay.
“Oh, Hannah,” Dr. Bob groaned. “We would have been glad to help, whether she could pay or not. That is why we are here.”
“Well, we are here for you now, Hannah,” Julie Williams said. “I am sure, between all of us, we can come up with a plan to help you.”
In the end it was decided that Hannah and the children would stay at Grace Mission Station. There was a small shed in the housing complex that held some equipment. The mis sionaries would move the equipment to the larger storage building across the road and donate the shed to the Mbati family for their home. “It’s actually a little bigger than most of the houses in the village,” Ken Smiley said. “We’ll clean it up, find a few pieces of furniture—it should work out great!”
“Hannah, we’ve been talking about bringing in another girl to help our single lady missionaries at their house. Can you cook? Would you be willing to do some laundry and cleaning for them?” Julie asked.
“Oh, yes!” Hannah said eagerly. “Oh—but what about the children?”
“We would be happy to have Joel and your sisters come to the mission school,” Tom Barker said. “And when Daniel and Isaiah are old enough, they will be welcome, too. We do that for all our national workers.”
“And in the meantime,” Beth Jameson spoke up, “they can spend the days playing with the other little ones at the orphanage when you are too busy working to be able to look after them. How does that sound?”
Hannah wiped tears from her eyes. “It sounds too wonderful to be true! You are so good! God is so good!” A huge smile broke across her face. “Bwana asafiway! Praise the Lord!”
Pastor Tim had taken Phil Williams aside later. “The youth group had a quick meeting after supper tonight,” he told the missionary. “We would like to send some money every month to Grace Mission Station to help support Hannah’s family and cover your expenses in keeping them here. Would that be okay?”
Pastor Phil gratefully accepted. The youth group was excited. It was a bond with the African girl that would last many years after they had returned to America.
Kristi dressed quickly now and hurried out to the kitchen to see if she could help Hannah prepare breakfast. The missionaries had decided that for the next couple weeks she would help Jane take care of the visiting Americans before she started working at the single women’s dorm. Jane would train her to do things the way the missionaries liked them.
Kristi was disappointed to find only her mother and Ellie Grant in the kitchen. “Where’s Hannah?” she asked.
“Dr. Bob wanted her and all the children to have check ups at the hospital this morning before she starts working. Some of the kids needed their shots, too. Then, afterwards, the Williams’ are going to take her down to the village to her old house to collect their few belongings.”
“Oh,” Kristi said. “Well, that’s good, I guess.”
“It’s just cereal and fruit this morning anyway, Kristi. Why don’t you go and tell everyone they’ve got twenty minutes until breakfast, okay? We’ve all got a lot of work ahead of us today so we need to get an early start,” Rachel said.
An hour later they were already hard at work at the station. Ken Smiley was showing the Cameron team how to lay the cement blocks that would form the addition to the children’s ward. The guys would do the actual building while Rachel, Skeeter and the girls would keep the cement blocks coming and the mortar that went between the blocks mixed.
They’d only been working thirty minutes when Kristi said, “Whew! And to think we could have been painting at the orphanage or the school instead! I can lift a paint brush a lot easier than one of these cement blocks!”
“How many blocks do you think we’ve carried already?” Robyn asked.
“Ugh!” Kristi grunted as she loaded another one into the wheelbar
row. “Oh, about a hundred, I guess. Only about two million more to go. Ooh—my shoulders are killing me!”
“Aww, quit the complaining!” Skeeter spoke up cheerfully. He was mixing mortar in a big bucket. “Think of all the muscles you’re building!”
“Oh, just what I always wanted—big muscles!” Robyn panted. Sweat dripped in her eyes. Her ponytail hung limply against her neck.
Rachel paused for a moment to catch her breath and laughed. “Well, at least you all have youth and strength on your side! I’m getting too old for stuff like this!”
“Here, Mom—take my place,” Skeeter offered. “This is probably easier.”
“Thanks, Skeeter. I’ll do that!”
Ken Smiley had heard them. “Hey, guys, we can’t tell you how grateful we are for what you’re doing. These things are projects we’ve wanted to do for a long time but can never seem to get around to with all the day-to-day work we have here at the station. We’ve especially needed this addition to the hospital for a long time. We hate having to turn away children because we have no more room.”
“It’s okay, Ken,” Kristi said. “We really are happy to do this—even if it is hard,” she said with groan as she lifted yet another block. She happened to look up just then and saw two little faces peeking out of the window at her. Lily and Tamara. She recognized them from the day before. She waved at them and they waved back, giggling. Cuties! And suddenly it really was okay. She seemed to hear the Scripture verse in her head, “For as much as ye do it unto the least of these, you do it unto me…” The next block felt lighter and her shoulders hurt less. She began singing a chorus, and soon the others had joined in. The work seemed to go faster and more easily after that.
Lunchtime was a welcome relief, however. It felt so good to wash up! Kristi stood at the kitchen sink running a cool, wet cloth over her face. She looked over at Hannah who had returned from the hospital to start her first day on the job. She was smiling and humming as she stood at the stove, stirring a pot of bean soup.
“How was your morning, Hannah?” Kristi asked. “Did they take care of all of you at the hospital?”
“Oh yes! The little ones got their shots and Dr. Bob is taking care of the small problems they have. Dr. Austin checked our teeth, too, and he is going to fix them, also! I am so happy! The missionaries said that all this is part of my wages! That, and the little house they gave us. God is so good!”
“Yes, He surely is!” Kristi said. “And how is the new house?”
“Oh, it is wonderful! I never thought I would ever live in so nice a place! The missionaries helped me make beds for the children last night, and they gave me some things from their kitchens to cook with.”
Kristi tried to imagine the little garden shed as a home, and then thought of her big, beautiful house back in the States. “I am so glad you like it, Hannah,” she said quietly.
The team was ready to go back to work at the hospital after lunch when Ken held up his hand. “Nope! You folks worked so hard this morning that we got a lot more done than I ever dreamed we would. I want you to take a break this afternoon—especially in the heat of the day. We’ll have plenty of time to get the whole job done at the rate we’re going.”
Pastor Phil said, “Julie and I are taking Hannah down to the village this afternoon while the children are at school. She wants to get their things from their old house. We won dered if you all would like to go along to see the village and the house Hannah’s family lived in.”
“Oh yes!” the Camerons and their friends said eagerly.
A few minutes later they were bouncing down the road in the mission truck. Rachel and Julie rode in front with Pastor Phil, while the rest of them were jerked and jolted in the back. It was only a few minutes down the road, though, and soon they were climbing out of the truck into a different world.
A handful of dukas, or little shops, stood about the middle of town. There was a small store, a butcher shop, a tiny dark café, a couple of taverns, a small school, and the mission church, but not much more. Mud huts were clustered here and there, some of them with little shambas, or gardens. Most of those were dead or dying. A water faucet stood in the center of town—the only well. Several little girls were carrying buckets to fill from it.
Hannah’s house was on the outskirts of the village, on the other side from the road to the mission. They followed her to the small hut. It was even poorer than most of the others in the village. Large portions of mud had fallen from the walls and tattered pieces of cardboard filled the holes. The thatched roof had holes in it, the larger ones covered by a ragged sheet of plastic and a rusty piece of tin. A smoke hole for the cooking fire was in the center of the roof.
“My father was very ill the last year of his life and he could not do the work to fix the house,” Hannah explained. “By the time he died, my mother was very ill and weak, as well.”
She invited them inside. There was one small dark, stuffy room. A couple of dented pans and a few cooking supplies were in the center of the dirt floor next to the burnt out fire. Two or three blankets were on the floor next to the walls. A little pile of clothes was nearby. That was about all there was.
“I have no food or chai to offer you,” she apologized.
“That’s okay, Hannah. We can’t stay long anyway if we want to get back before your sisters and brothers return from school. It’s important that they find you there this first day,” Rachel said. “Why don’t most of us wait outside so you can get what you need. Take your time, Hannah. We’ll wait for you.” It was crowded in the tiny, dark room. The smell of smoke clung to everything.
Kristi, Robyn and Anna stayed with Hannah while she hur riedly made a bundle of the few clothes the family owned. She rolled up the blankets on the floor. “This is where my mother died,” she said sadly, running her hand over a blanket in the corner. She rubbed a bit of it against her cheek for a moment before finally rolling it up. She gathered a few utensils and dishes into an old bag and said, “I am ready.”
The girls looked at the little pile at Hannah’s feet. That was all her earthly possessions, and yet she had a faith, and peace, and strength about her that they could only marvel at. Seeing her in her own home had only opened their eyes even more to the difference between her world and their own.
The mission truck rolled back up the road and into the housing compound just minutes before the children ran into the guest house looking for Hannah. “Look! Look!” Martha cried excitedly in Swahili. “I made a picture!” Mary was right behind her with Baby Isaiah in her arms. Joel had Daniel by the hand. They had stopped by the orphanage to pick them up.
“The lady at the orphanage said Daniel and Isaiah were happy there today!” Mary told her big sister. “They played with the other little children. They had good food to eat, and so did we, Hannah!”
“That is wonderful, Mary! I am so happy!” Hannah gathered her little family into her arms. “And now you are home.”
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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Panic at the Pavilion!
The girls laughed softly as they followed the flashlight beams down the path toward the garden shed—Hannah’s new home. They were going to surprise her and the children with a little housewarming party. Jen, Barb and all the other girls had listened quietly to Kristi’s account of Hannah’s old house and life as they lay on their cots the night before.
“We need to do something,” Barb said firmly. “I want to help.”
“So do I! Me, too!” the other girls all chimed in.
“How about a little party for them?” Robyn suggested. “I’ll bet she’s never had a party before in her life. She’s probably never even been to a party!”
Kristi laughed. “That’s a great idea, Robyn. And you’re always ready to party, aren’t you? I’m sure you’re right about Hannah. I doubt if she’s had very many fun things in her life at all. Let’s give them a little party!”
And so the idea took root. The girls went throug
h their backpacks looking for things they had brought with them that would be useful to Hannah—or simply pretty, to brighten her life. They begged the guys and their chaperones to donate whatever they could find, as well.
Coming up with clothes for Hannah and Joel wasn’t too hard. A few of the teens were on the small side and had things they were willing to part with. Skeeter had an extra pair of sneakers that would fit Joel—or at least he could grow into them. Pastor Tim’s wife, Linda, went through some of the boxes of clothes they had brought for the orphanage and pulled out some things for the younger ones. There were baseball caps for the three boys and bracelets for the girls. Kristi took off her favorite necklace to give to Hannah.
They put some of the soft, pretty towels they had brought for the ladies, as well as some soap, into a box of assorted things they had found for the house. Ellie Grant donated a bright red scarf to use as a curtain over the one small window in the shed. Several sports bottles, a flashlight and batteries, two small travel pillows, a sleeping bag, and a little sewing kit also made it into the box. Kristi filled a small duffle bag with toys and Rachel went through the kitchen looking for food that they could spare—bags of maize, rice and beans, flour, cooking oil, tea, some vegetables and salt. Skeeter made sure a generous supply of candy went into the food box, too.
Now they approached the little house and knocked at the door. Hannah had taken the children back to their own place as soon as she had finished helping Jane with the Americans’ supper. The girls hoped she had had time to fix their own meal for her family.
Joel opened the door cautiously and peered outside. His eyes widened at the sight of the nine smiling American girls, their arms full of boxes and bags. He turned back to the inside and called, “Hannah!”
His sister came to the door. She looked a little puzzled but she smiled and said, “Jambo! Welcome!”
“Jambo, Hannah!” Kristi said. “We have come to welcome you and your family to your new home! We have gifts for you! May we come in?”
The Mystery of the Kenyan King (Kristi Cameron Book 4) Page 5
