Graduation Day at Saikeri

One very important area of my ministry is adult literacy. I am not the teacher in any of these classes, but through the faithfulness of God's people, we were able to provide for five (5) adult literacy classes in remote villages scattered in the Maasai area. What a blessing!

We decided to conduct two literacy classes in the community of Saikeri -- one for men and one for women. We started with two teachers and ten women and ten men. Our female teacher got married about three weeks into our course, so the male teacher taught both classes. Two women and five men dropped after sometime, so we ended up with 13 very dedicated students.

Saturday, June 12th was graduation day! All of the students were special, but the man pictured below is over 80 years of age. He has at least two wives and 14 children. He said "I made sure all 14 of my children were educated, now it's my turn"

This beautiful lady is one of our lovely female graduates.
Two of our five men weren't able to make it to graduation due to unforeseen circumstances. But these three proud gentlemen were all smiles.
This is our women's class. Each of them dressed in their finest for this event.
Gifts -- for me! They made me this beautiful necklace. Its actually called a wedding necklace, but I hesitate to mention that for fear some of you may get the wrong idea.
Jeremiah, on the left, acted as our MC and interpreter for the day. James (Right) is also one of my board members and gave a brief word of praise for the students.
This dear pastor's wife, Maria, helped me cut and serve the cake.
This proud group of thirteen students was so excited about the day's activities. The young man on the right is the teacher, John Tira.
The goal of Starfish in providing literacy for these wonderful people is so that they can read their Bibles. They have lived in the dark for too long. Of course there are many benefits in them knowing how to read. I am very proud of all their accomplishments.