Favorite Faces!

I could not be happier being here! Like I said, I LOVE being here with my brother and getting to see him after 5 months! I have mostly been in meetings for the majority of the days with Steve but I have had some opportunities to see some of the people I love most here. My reunion with Leila, Hannah and Juliette was unreal! Not an eye was dry. Then yesterday I got to see Lucy for the first time and she is so big with big people teeth and everything! During the day I got to go to Purpose Driven Academy and see some of my other favorite kids Augo, Junior, Allen, and Faith.

Back In Kitale!

WAHOO! After two LONG days of travel... I am back in Kitale! It was such a sweet reunion with so many people I love! I can't wait to start my journey here this summer with my brother and so many incredible friends who are making the trip out here! I'll be blogging as much as I can, so stay tunned for all the adventures. Thanks so much for your prayers!

I Love Lucy

I have visited Lucy everyday since we brought her to Sister Freda's and her feet are beginning to look better and better. She is a strong and courageous little girl who has the best giggle ever. We brought her a teddy bear who she quickly named Dolly, a new pink blanket, and crayons and a coloring book to keep her occupied. God is constantly breaking my heart more and more for this little girl. It kills me that I have to leave in three days and I cant have more time with her. Be praying that I will be doing the best I can with her in the time I have left in Kitale.

The Face of Poverty

After being in Kitale for over two months now I began to feel like everything I saw was becoming numb to me. I am not saying that the people and the poverty stopped breaking my heart but it got to a point where I thought that nothing I saw would surprise me anymore. Just as I gained this mindset of thinking the Lord slapped me in the face and changed my thoughts right away. What I saw today far surpassed just being surprised. It came as a shock. I was speechless and soon enough I realized that tears were rolling down my face and I could not stop them. The Lord broke my heart.

I met three children today who were one, two and seven. There was Peter, Erica and Lucy. Lucy is the oldest of the three and was being the mother to the other two children. The two younger kids were so frightened of me they wouldn't even shake my hand.


Soon enough I saw that Lucy and Erica (the two year old) both had jigger infestations in their feet and Lucy even had them in her hands. Jiggers are caused from sleeping in the dirt. They are small fleas that burro under your nails and in your feet and they lay their eggs there. They are constantly reproducing and bringing about open wounds. Lucy had them way worse than Erica and they were causing Lucy to walk on just the heels of her feet. Every step she takes she takes with precision and caution. This is a picture of the bottom of Lucys feet completely infested with jiggers.


There was no way that I could see this kind of poverty induced pain in a young girl and not do anything about it. I was convicted and faced with a decision to make and the decision seemed so clear to me but many obstacles stood in the way. I needed to know if she wanted to go through the pain of getting them out of her feet in order to get better. Lucy was positive she wanted to get better but little Erica did not want to go through such pain. The way they take out the jiggers is by going into their feet and toenails with razor-blades and scraping them out. No wonder a two year old wouldn't want to go through such intense pain. But Lucy made it so clear that she wanted to do what it takes to be able to walk like normal again. This is a picture of sweet Lucy with a smiling face and samll Erica passed out on my lap.



So we took Lucy to the hospital and now she is in the care of wonderful Sister Freda. This is not going a pleasant couple of days for her but I believe she is brave and willing enough to endure. There is no happy ending to this story just yet but I hope and pray that soon enough Lucy will be able to stand without cringing. Keep this beautiful young girl in your persistent prayers.



Thank you for caring.
Torie Fields

More, You Want More?!

Pastor Steve is having us all post blogs more frequently on a blog all together. So all of us created our own blogs last night. And we are going to do more tonight. So if you are at all interested in checking out that blog it is http://kitaleleadershipinstitute.blogspot.com/

Here is one picture from the week! Our favorite driver, Victor, offered to give us a tour of all of Kitale. I'll post more about our adventures on that later.

This is Victor, Del and I visiting a swamp... so cool!

People Let Me Tell You Bout My Best Friend

I am so thankful to be able to get to serve alongside of my best friend. This three month journey has been exponentially better because I get to share it with someone I love so much. We are both missing friends and family at home but I am so glad we are sharing this experience together.

Just A Handful

As my time in Kenya comes to an end in three weeks I cant help but think of the people that I am going to have to say goodbye to. I was not expecting it to be all that hard but now it is something that I am completely dreading. The people here have become apart of my daily life for the past two months and I cant imagine being so far away from them. When I return home I will be with people I love and that I have truly missed but pieces of my heart will be here in Kenya. I am so thankful for the relationships that have come of this trip and that each person has made an impact on my heart in a different way than the other. Here are some faces of people that I am excited to spend three more weeks with but going to miss dearly.


This is Attau. He lives on the streets and daily attends the school for street kids here called Oasis of Hope. He is one of the oldest boys there and is also around 6'4 and pretty intimidating at first. But he is just a kind and gentle boy who is trying to make the best of what he has.


These boys live together in the house of 43 kids that I posted about earlier. They are two of my favorite boys in the entirety of Kenya, Elias and Lamic.


Solomon and Augo are boys that attend a school called Purpose Driven Academy. Solomon is a refugee from Sudan and when he is not boarding at school he is living in a refugee camp. He is a sophmore in high school and he has such a drive to succeed. He is different than a lot of kids I have met here in a way that I cant quite explain. The other boy is Augustine who has stolen a HUGE piece of my heart. Two of the sweetest boys ever.


Of course Andrew. I have known him for a few years and he stole my heart long ago.


Oh gosh I am going to be such a wreck.