I went to college with Jen. She was the person who introduced me to pumpkin pie and the concept of a kissing buddy. After graduating college she went to Romania and started a children's home. She spent years over there getting it up and running and managing it. After an extended stay back here in the states she's recently gone to Kenya to work with orphans. Here's a portion of a mass email I got from her this morning. It's a little long but it's a lot more important than most of the crap I put up here:

"One of our prayers was that God would bring the children to this home that need a home. We know there are many out there but we want it to be by His doing and not our own. Six hours later we received a call from the neighboring town that there is a little boy in custody that has nowhere to go. They said he was five years of age and was just taken from his aunt that was put in jail for beating him.

We hopped in the car and drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve seen. The further down we curled on the winding road into the valley, the thicker the trees, shrubs and grass grew. As we were approaching the mountains the green was so dense it felt as if we were being wrapped in a thick, green cloak. It felt magical, so much nature and beauty.

We arrived at the District Officers office; a dirty little building that also acts as storage for old tires. We met the officer covering the case. He told us the boy was at the hospital and that the Chief of the village would be arriving soon to discuss the case. I in all my “American-ness” did not know what to expect meeting a chief of a village. I pictured a man coming in a brightly colored toga with a painted face and feathers on his head. However, since the officer we were dealing with was in a suit and tie I figured my imagination was probably not correct. The chief showed up. He was a tall, domineering man dressed in a dark suit and a shiny, yellow silk tie. My colleague asked him what his job was as a chief and he explained it is to counsel the community. So much for visions of spearing game in the jungle.

He proceeded to take us to meet the newest addition to our family. His name is Johnny. Both of his parents are deceased of AIDS. They say he is five years old but we have him dressed in size 2 clothing (that are just a little small) for the moment until we can get a bigger size. He ran away the night before because his aunt was beating him. His aunt came searching for him in the morning with her butcher knife and found him. She sliced the top of his hand from his thumb across about an inch on the top of his hand. The Dr. said the cut almost reached the bone. Thank God she didn’t cut into a tendon as he can move all of his fingers. However the wound is very swollen so PLEASE pray for his complete healing.

A man carried Johnny to our car where he handed him to one of our two house moms. He sat with wide eyes and no tears. He speaks only his tribal language which is Kikuyu and we are thankful that “Mom Ann” is from the same tribe. He was staring in wonder at me while I was driving and talking to him. Ann asked him if he ever saw anyone like me (white). He said no. She asked him where he thought I came from. He said, “Heaven”. I love this child. ( ;

We brought him home and stripped him down so we could bathe and change him, only to find his whole little body full of scars from being pinched and beaten. He has some fresh pinch wounds on his face, ear and arms as well as his sliced hand. His belly is large and hard, swollen from malnutrition and worms. Worst of all we feared he may be infected with AIDS. We took great precautions as we bathed him and cared for his wounds and today we went for testing to see if he was HIV positive or negative.

It is amazing how fast one can fall in love. We cared for him last night and cracked up as we couldn’t get him to stay in bed. He wanted to play and run and laugh. We realized his pain tolerance is very high because he didn’t cry as we changed his bandage although we were almost in tears. He had escaped his living Hell and there was no time for sleeping or tears! He is very affectionate, which is not the culture here, so of course I am in heaven as I get hugs from him. I dealt with getting pooped and peed on as he isn’t used to a regular toilet. He is used to squatting. I was totally grossed out as I was trying to get him to sit on the toilet and he had a death grip on me and kept his legs straight out like a pole. A few seconds later with stinky poop everywhere I realized that this is part of the job as well…It can’t be all giggles and grins. ( : We have since purchased a little kid potty which he uses very well.

So, the HIV test. It is a very nerve-racking experience to sit in a hospital and wait with a rambunctious child. I am sure people thought “Why don’t they discipline their kid” as he proceeded to kick and hit me, laughing all the while. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the most anxiety causing moment, it was the moment of waiting to hear if this child who had won our hearts had a death sentence on his life. I am soooooooooooo relieved to say that he is HIV negative; he is healthy and as far as I know he is now ours! ( : There are some formalities that we must go through however all looks good."

Jen is one of those people who's life constantly puts me to shame. If you're interested in knowing more about Jen's work, hit the contact buttom at the top right hand of the blog and shoot me an email. I'll get you in touch with her.


through you, i've heard a lot about her. she sounds wicked awesome, and the world is a MUCH better place for her and the work she does.

about your sense of shame...you do important work as well. i've seen you counsel various friends and thought to myself, "thank God for patrick and his ability to openly listen to his friends without judgement or condescension." i know of more than a few people who feel the same, and trust us, we are better off having you in our lives, right here.

and besides, you'd never make it in africa, what with your unnatural dependence on sushi bars and "family guy".  


That's really nice, BP. I hope it didn't sound like I was fishing for compliments or anything like that.

But wait a minute, what do people in Africa do on Sunday nights if they don't have Family Guy?

Sometimes you don't realize how good you've got it.  


i don't know.

james?  


Aaaaahahahaha!  


why hasn't that gorgeous african responded?  


He's chicken.  


After reading the first few comments I thought I had stumbled upon a gay blog!

But sadly I hadn't.

No...wait! Disregard that last line!

This is James by the way.  


Doh!  


All gay joking aside, this was a really cool story.

Thanks for making the rest of us feel worthless.

Seriously.  


Ha ha. You're sad it's not a gay blog.  


Glad I could make you feel as worthless as I feel.  


I was mistaken for a black guy over the weekend. I can't post what was said to me, but if you'd like the story, IM me, or send me an email.  


PATCH WHICH JEN? EMAIL ME AND TELL ME  


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