During the year our Class 8 pupils at Mawewa School participate in our ROPES (Rights of Passage) Program. ROPES focuses on Christ-centered character development preparing our learners for the pressures of high school and beyond. One of the highlights of ROPES is a one week camp. During this week, key activities include a challenge to endure a day-long, 21 km hike in the heat, as well as a 24 hour fast. Our pupils began their fast the evening before the hike and ended it when they got back to camp. During the hike, they carried their heavy backpacks with all their camping gear, as well as an apple, with instructions not to eat it until they got back to camp. As you can imagine, for our young teenagers, this was a lesson in self-control, endurance, patience and determination. At the end of the hike we had many victors, but also a few who succumbed to the temptation and ate their apples. A bittersweet lesson indeed.

Another highlight of camp involved a special surprise for our learners. After their long day of hiking, they returned to camp to discover their parents, guardians and teachers waiting for them. This was a complete surprise for our pupils who were greeted with song and ululation, as their parents celebrated their achievements. In the course of the evening, as mothers shared precious moments with their daughters and fathers bonded with their sons, the parents and guardians purposely passed on important life skills to their children. The girls learned how to properly butcher, pluck, dress and cook chicken from their mothers, while the boys learned how to butcher and properly barbeque goat meat from their fathers. Later that night after a shared meal of all the meat and accompanying sides they had prepared, our parents and children enjoyed a camp sleepover. For our pupils from Mathare, this was an especially memorable and unique experience of rare one-on-one time spent enjoying the great outdoors with their parents. Please join us in thanking God for a successful ROPES experience for our Class 8 pupils.

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