New Life, New Experience

It's a relaxed day...Saturday...MITS students are washing clothes, cleaning the property, looking forward to playing soccer in the afternoon. It rained all night. We've washed the car and cleaned it, and we're not expecting to drive it in the mud. At least, not today.

The phone rings, and it is Moses, our IT man and computer teacher. He wants to borrow the car - after all, I am like Dad to the Team. But it's not for himself. One of the girls needs to go to the hospital. She's in labor, or something, he says. He is the only driver around, and the other vehicles are being used. In a few minutes Moses is at the house, and this is a new experience for him. I make him nervous by asking what he will do if baby is born in the car.

It's Paulyne Adhiambo, admitted to the single moms' program in late September. So Moses and Irene take her to Pumwani Maternity Hospital and check her in. The doctor says she will have the baby by morning, so she should stay. Now Moses gets another new experience. He goes to the store to buy all the things a baby needs -- blanket and oil and shampoo and diapers, none of which the hospital has.

So in a few hours MITS will have another new life among us, someone to love and teach so that he/she will never be "on the streets." And Moses knows what to do next time.