Dinner with our maize family!

On Thursday night, we had our maize family over to our house for dinner! It was a great night! We picked them up around 5:30 and they were all SO excited, especially Shakira (the 4-year-old). We found out later in the night that when Shakira saw us drive up she ran to her mom and said "See Mom, I told you they would come!!!" Shifa, age 2, was not quite as enthusiastic, but she did manage to greet us and say "Mzungu, how are you?". Their father was also at the maize stand and so we invited him to come along as well but he explained to us that if he came, there would be no one to sell maize. He was just as excited for his wife and children to come along and we promised we would send a big plate of food home for him.
When we first got to the house, we were at a little bit of a loss because they didn't speak any English and Betty, our house girl, wasn't there yet to translate. But, within about 5 minutes, Shakira was bopping all over the house wanting to touch, taste, and see everything! It was great that even though she was totally out of her element, she felt completely comfortable! Shifa was happy to just sit with her mom in the living room, and Mom was simply beaming just to be in our home and watch her daughters having such a good time! As soon as Betty arrived, we were all much happier because we could actually communicate! We learned that the mom, Jamira, is only 26, had her first child at 16, and has two more children that she had to send to live in the village because she could not care for all 4 of them at the same time. Neither she, her husband, nor any of her children have ever been to school. We also learned that her husband is the groundskeeper at the cemetery in town. In exchange for his work, his family gets to live on the compound in a VERY small, VERY simple hut and he gets paid 2000 shillings a month (about $1.25). So, basically their only income is what their mom makes selling maize on street at night. Needless to say, they are a family who is BARELY getting by.
For dinner we served chicken, chips, rice, lentils, and soda. They really enjoyed them meal, although Shakira was too busy to really sit and eat. She had fun "finding" things around the house including a really expensive camera, Renee's laptop, the inside of the toilet bowl (multiple times), an outlet strip, the stove burners, and various snacks.
After dinner, we took the girls into the bathroom to give them their first, and most likely their only, bath in a bathtub! Shifa wasn't a huge fan, but Shakira had the best time ever! She thought it was so funny that the water just continued to pour out of the spout and loved that she could turn it on and off as much as she wanted. Betty had to explain to their mom what the toilet was and even flushed it for her to show how it worked. She was interested to know that the bathroom was INSIDE the house and if this is where people went to the bathroom, why did it smell so good? We put the girls in brand new, matching outfits and mom continued to beam endlessly.
The night ended with a photo shoot, eating ice cream sundaes by candlelight when the power went out, and driving them home in the "motorcar".
It was such a great night and such a neat opportunity to spend some quality time with this family. At the same time, it's a little sad because we invite them into our home and they see this massive house with multiple rooms and all the things we have, and then we drive them home to their small, run down home in the cemetery. It always leaves us feeling like we should be doing something more, something bigger for them even though we're doing as much as we can to help them and trying to show them love and compassion. This is something we struggle with almost daily. Every time you turn your head, there is someone who needs help and we're just doing what we can. For the maize family, that was inviting them into our home and treating them like family.