Langata Women's Prison

The only pictures you will see below are those of the sweet, joy-filled children we worked with at the Women's Prison as Kenyan laws do not allow pictures of buildings or anything else on the campus.  These children live at the prison where their mother's are incarcerated. According to a Kenyan friend, some are able to leave at times to be with other family members, but majority of them live here at the prison.  During the day, they attend a nursery school on the campus.  I will admit that when I heard we were going here I thought the children would be really sad or even angry, after all they are growing up in a prison. However, they completely showed me a new way of being, no matter what circumstances are around. They live with such joy-filled hearts. I suppose many people might say that is because they don't know they are in a prison as most have not experienced otherwise.  On one hand I agree that no, they don't know a different life.  But at the same time I know how perceptive and intuitive children are to the people and things around them. So, while they may not understand exactly what their circumstances are I am sure they sense that things are not okay with their mothers.  And yet, I say all this because they don't live as though they are in prison.  They live, as children naturally do, in the present moment whether that means laughing at a friend or crying because they fell down. They are not caught up in the circumstances even if they are impacted by them. Such a reminder to me that the only prisons that really exist are those in our minds- joy is always a choice. 

When we arrived the children were finishing lunch. I felt the frustration of speaking another language as they started talking to me in Swahili and I couldn't respond!

Let's do some yoga together! These children only speak Swahili and were still loving kid's yoga taught in English!

Jodi reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear - The children's books that I brought are a part of the generous Thrivent Grant I received and will be read with children here and in other outreach settings (i.e.- orphanages, schools)

Two of my little friends! After yoga we brought out a cake to share with them. It is a custom to smear frosting on each other's foreheads, which you see here!