Our trip--update 6

Steven sits at the table here in the guest house, wisecracking and being all snarky and sassy as he plays a game of chess with Jenny using the cool new carved set that Ben bought two days ago, with lions for kings and elephants for knights and so on. He just put a piece of tape over his nose. We're not sure why.

Today we had lunch with the Into Africa boys, about seven boys who are the remnant of what was once an orphanage with 25 kids, plus Sammy the supervisor and Benard the guy that Paul trained in when we left. The boys live together and Into Africa sponsors them with a stipend that pays their school fees and basic living expenses.

Steven remembered most of his old friends right off--the other Steven, Francis, Victor, Vitalis. We sat around a long table and ate fried chicken and chips/french fries, and learned to know each other again. Steven and Steven sat beside each other, across from Paul and me.

"What do you want to do when you're out of school?" said the other Steven. "I don't know," said ours, "I haven't thought about it much."

"I want to be a barber," said Steven 2. "I'm saving money for equipment and Sammy keeps it for me." He looked connivingly at Paul. " If you buy the equipment for me I can get started."

This guy obviously knew where he wanted to go and took an opportunity when he saw it.

He also talked about soccer, and the World Cup, and which village he had come from, and such normal things.

And when we go, Steven 1 will go and Steven 2 will stay, and that is a lot to think about.

Three of the orphan guys are brothers. The two younger ones look like they're about 12, and their older brother Richard joined us later, looking all sharp in a shirt and tie, after he had finished some exams at school. Their parents are dead, as are their two older sisters, and Richard takes his responsibility seriously as the head of the remaining household, hence the priority he gave to today's exams.

I left the lunch early to go buy some supplies for the baby orphanage we'll visit tomorrow, and Paul told me that after I left, Richard's principal happened to come by. Paul asked her how Richard is doing. "Very well," she said, "didn't you see his tie?"

He had a special badge on his tie denoting him as a student leader.

He wants to go to college and be a mechanical engineer.

He is amazing. And I really really want his life to work out, and his funny little brothers', and every orphan's there.

And how do you process the fact that this kid over here won the lottery, so to speak, and doesn't have to worry about more than finishing his homework and emptying the dishwasher in the morning.

And that one gets up every morning taking full responsibility for his own life and his two brothers', knowing how high the stakes are and what the result will be if he fails the exams or the funding dries up or Sammy the supervisor decides to leave.

It is just a lot to think about.