SHAKA & KAVUNZONI – REPORT 3

Published by Administrator on September 5, 2025

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Hello Family & Friends,

Sports announcers sometimes refer to how the athletes, “left it all on the field.” Similarly, in theater, actors strive to “leave it all on the stage.” Today, the travel team left it all in Shaka. As we arrived at the village this morning, Rhett gave us a last-minute pep talk, encouraging us to sing loudly and do everything today with energy. The group accepted his challenge and gave Shaka their very best.

As we walked over to the new classrooms to start working on the mural, Aaron and Melanie Hoopes saw something they had not expected. On the side of the pink wall, in large black letters, it said, “The Hoopes Family.” Although they have contributed significantly for several years, this was the first time Aaron and Melanie have been available to join the travel team and they had no idea that GV Cares named a classroom in their honor this year. Watching them see that in person immediately became a highlight for anyone lucky enough to witness that emotional moment.

We worked like a hive of honeybees to prep the wall of the new building for the mural. Constantly communicating with each other, people taped stencils, climbed ladders, and traced cutouts with chalk. An outside observer would never have guessed that it was the first time this group of people had created a large art project together. Soon, we were ready to add color, but instead of doing the painting ourselves, we gave the brushes to students and assigned them different sections to paint. Impressed with their careful technique, we mostly supervised and complimented their work. Rhett, Steven, and Dax finished the touch up and the highest part of the sky by taping the paint roller to a nearby stick with blue tape! Kaylin’s design and stencils worked beautifully and we appreciate the work she put into it the mural before the trip started. This large, colorful painting will remind the community of our support for many years to come.

Parents, teachers, and students, who are called “learners” in Kenya, presented a program with traditional dances and personalized poems that expressed sincere gratitude. In return, we played our kazoos and sang at the top of our lungs! After all of the speeches, we finally got to watch Aaron and Melanie, then Dax, cut the ribbons to officially open the new classrooms. We put the new space to work right away, dividing into five teaching groups and sharing visual aids that we brought from home. Chelsey and Michaela won the award for most creative teachers when they dressed in crayon costumes to teach the kids about colors.

Dax, Rhett, and Dustin carried on the “Burto Ball” tradition, named for Burt Matthews, who loves to run around with a giant (no matter how big you are imagining, please triple the image in your head) inflatable beach ball while kids chase him. We danced and laughed well into the afternoon, then reluctantly boarded our bus when Leah insisted that our day of celebration had come to an end.

In his speech this afternoon, Jeff assured the learners and their families that the small group of people who sat before them in bright blue Grant Victor Cares t-shirts represent a much larger group of people who love the children of their village and believe in their future. To each person reading this, please know that people sang songs about you today in Shaka. People recited poems that they wrote about you. Whether your name is on a building or on a desk or at the top of this email, people in Shaka thanked God for you today.

Written by Rachel Matthews