Back in Kongowea

Today, Kelvin and I went to Kongowea.

Nicky has been running the business beautifully without us. He is also looking super snazzy these days.   He was wearing his cool new glasses (that we got him because he was squinting so much that it made even my head hurt) and a sleek button up shirt. I am told he finally got his National ID that has his real birthdate on it. 

Allan was busy doing most of the accounting and paper work for the business. He counts every shilling that comes in and out of our business.  He is also the chairman for the boys and takes care of all their accounts. Not to mention, he is a dreamer. He constantly comes to us with ideas on how to empower the youth. He asked if his sister, who just finished high school, can join the ladies group. I smiled and said, 'Of course, she can'. 

Agogo walked by, put his hand in the air to greet us, and then kept walking. He always seems like he has somewhere important to be. It's just the urgency in his walk, I guess.

Noah was sitting there as well. He just finished his attachment at a shipping company and is now looking for a permanent job. He has applied at three companies so far. Somehow he managed to get a flashy new touch screen phone. We all joked at how it looks like Kelvin's iPhone. 

Dula rushed to the office when Kelvin called him. He is joining college to study mechanics this week. He has worked as our 'maintenance manager' for the last year. We promised to put him into school this year since his mom can't afford it and his dad is a junkie. We made plans to go pay his fees on Wednesday. Before he left, he cleaned my centre. It was spotless. 

Eric popped in briefly and greeted me with a smile. He holds a special place in my heart since he lived with us for 7 months and some of my greatest friends sponsored him to finish school. He is growing out his hair now since he doesn't have school ragging on him to shave it all the time. This is the first day in 12 years that he is not going to school. He's just at home waiting for his results. He popped in and out of the office and went on his merry way. 

Maloba tried to greet us quickly and get out but Kelvin motioned for him to sit down. We gave him money last year to pay his school fees as he was one of our scholarship winners. We told him to bring us the receipt so we know that the money went for fees. He has yet to bring it to us. So Kelvin told him he needs to bring it before we pay for this year. 

Nuru popped her head over the fence to see if I was inside. Her brother had seen us walk by and told her we were around. I wanted to catch up with her so we sat in the centre and chatted. She explained to me how she used her photography skills to take pictures of an aspiring MP and then posted them on her facebook wall. Because of it, the MP wants to give her a bursary to go towards her college fees. She also just finished working registering voters for the upcoming elections so she has a hefty pay check coming into her bank account this week. She was asking me what I thought about her trying to help pay the school fees for a young orphaned girl in the community. I told her it was a beautiful idea but to make sure that she can also finish paying her own school fees. I love her heart. 

Linet popped in quickly to greet Nuru and I and then she left. 

Felix and his Dad showed up to talk about school fees since Felix won a scholarship last year. Kelvin explained to him that he doesn't hand out the money but that we go and pay the school fees ourselves. The Father was going to send the bank details for the school to Kelvin this afternoon. 

Abubakar was the topic of our lunch discussion. He had come to the office to say bye since he had just gotten a job in Dubai and was leaving the next morning. His mom made him come to see 'coaches'. She has a lot of respect for Kelvin since the day he sat in the hospital with Abubarkar when he broke his elbow at practice. She isn't even his real mom. She took him in when he was young because he was an orphan. Just as we were talking about him over our plates of biryani, we saw him in car that parked right beside us. He quickly hopped out and came to greet us. "Tommorow morning, I am leaving for job" he told me joyfully. I congratulated him and told him he will be missed. He turned to Kelvin and expressed his gratitude to coach once more. He called over his buddy and excitedly introduced 'Coach and wife wake' to him. Then he skipped on back to the car. 

Kelvin smiled at me. I smiled back.