It could be a year, perhaps more. Or less.

It has been another warm and sunny day in Kisumu. Temperatures reached into the 30’s and the humidity is rising as the rainy season approaches. Soon clouds will form over the hills surrounding the lake basin and thunder storms will flash in the night skies.

We are in the build up to the “long rains”, a season which lasts from the end of March to May. Much of the farming success of Western Kenya is dependent upon these rains to germinate the newly planted crops. It is also when the grass is longest and lushest in the nearby game parks and animal concentrations are at their peak, with many new births providing rich pickings for hungry hunters.

Nicky arrived last night on the evening Easycoach bus from Nairobi, after a long and bumpy journey. The road is being diverted from its regular direct route, to account for major roadworks along the Nairobi – Kisumu highway. Instead of the usual 4 hours the coach took almost 8, arriving into Kisumu at 6:45 last night.

We planned to have a less strenuous, though no less important day, sat talking with Moses and Paul James about the programs we are running and about the children in our care.

We arranged to meet at 10:30.

Sure enough, on the dot of 11:00 Moses texted to say that the vehicle was being worked on and that they were running a little late. On our way back from the farm yesterday we had a puncture and had to change one of the front tyres by the roadside in the dark. Moses spare tyre was an inch smaller than the other tyres, which had made for an interesting final leg of the journey, as the steering juddered and pulled to the left. I was glad he was having it repaired.

Nicky and I got a coffee and sat quietly for a while on the terrace, enjoying the birdsong and the soft breeze.

Before too long Moses and Paul James arrived and we walked down into the bottom of the garden at Sunset, under the shade of a large tree. We arranged four chairs and a table in a shady, level spot and ordered some cold drinks. It was a perfect open plan office.

And then we talked.

We began with the boys in Mamboleo, going through them one by one. Paul James talked about their school work, their performance, their background, their home life, their hopes and fears and dreams and aspirations.

Last year we took three new boys from the streets, Silas, Fidel and Brian. I wrote about them in my blog last April. They had been in other homes, but had not been happy and regularly returned to street life.

I was pleased to hear from Paul James that all three are still with us, they seemed to have settled and they are a happy, active part of the home life. They have returned to school at St Pauls Primary in Mamboleo, where we have a really good relationship with the head and the teachers, having placed a number of children there.

We have a number of new children in Mamboleo since I last came, Brian, Felix, George and Steven. Each one has a heartbreaking story of broken homes, parental abandonment, beatings or poverty. Each one will take time to come to terms with their circumstances and heartache and to renew their hope for the future. We try to give that time in our small family homes. Paul James is a quiet man with a beautiful compassionate heart and the children feel comfortable opening up to him. The often find healing for their hurts in his counsel and his prayers.

We don’t manage to keep all of the children who come to us, but we are proud that most do stay and become part of our family, our own flesh and blood.

After Mamboleo, where we now have 11 full time street children in our care, we talked about Kibos. Here we have 19 full time as well as a number at secondary schools who come home for the holidays.

We went through the children one by one, knowing their hurts and their backgrounds, talking about their future plans and dreams, about how we can best support them in their life to come.

We talked about Daniel, a very hurt young man who can’t remember where his family is from. He knows it’s Kitale somewhere, but he was young when he left and he hurts because he doesn’t know his identity.

We talked about John, whose uncle used to beat him and abuse him, about Dominic and Raphael, brothers whose father died and left them alone, of Moses whose Mother is still alive, but is trapped in poverty unable to look after him.

We talked of Francis who is 16 and is two years away from completing primary school, as he missed so much on the streets. Francis is a handsome boy who the local girls love. His brother came to us for a while, but left to go back to the streets, unwilling to subject himself to the discipline of family and school life. If there is an errand to be run to Kibos, Francis is always the first to volunteer. “there are many nice girls in Kibos town” said Moses, “He will go there on his knees, he will pass through rivers if he has to. His errands always take much longer than they should!”

We talked of other boys, of Jackson, Amos and Gideon who have just started secondary school near to Kibos and of our girls, Lorine, Sheila and Florence also working their way through secondary schools.

As we talked monkeys played in the grass and on the small rocks around us. An impala from the nearby reserve wandered up to the hedge on the boundary of the hotel and peered in, curious to know what brought us to that place and listening to our conversation.

We talked about boys who have been resettled at home and those who have come new to the program.

It was a rich and fulfilling day.

We went through the new boys who have joined Kibos on the past coupld of months, Brian, Stanley, Asman, Steven, William and another Brian. I asked Paul James how long Steven had been on the streets. “Ah, a long time” said Paul James, “Perhaps for one year” He paused for a moment, “Or perhaps more”.

“oh”, he said, “or maybe less”

That’s the sort of quality information we expect from our men on the ground. It made me proud.

We glanced at our watches and realised it was already 5:30. The day had flown by and Moses needed to rush to pick up his daughter . We ended with an agreement to meet again tomorrow to consider all those now in Home Support programs, Training programs or Home Repatriation Programs.

It could be an equally long day.

But there is no greater joy than talking about and understanding these children, their needs, their dreams and helping them to be something more than they believed they could be.

It’s why we started the Trust all those years ago.