Back to School: Recognizing the Gifts Around Us

This summer, I had the privilege of returning to Kenya to see Kupenda’s programs in person. Although I first traveled there almost 20 years ago as a volunteer and returned several times, I had not visited since 2012. I never imagined those early trips would eventually lead me to chair Kupenda’s board, then join its staff, or one day bring my own children to experience this work alongside me. Returning gave me the rare opportunity to see what years of sustained disability advocacy can accomplish: greater inclusion, reduced stigma, and growing recognition of what children with disabilities have to offer. It also reminded me of a truth God has shown throughout Scripture: He sees value and gifts in people the world too often overlooks.

Back to Gede Special School

I saw this most clearly when I returned to some of the schools I visited on those early trips. Gede Special School was the first school Kupenda supported children with disabilities to attend. What began with a few students learning in the corner of a supply room has grown into multiple classrooms, a nutrition program, medical care, trained teachers, occupational therapy, family counseling, and community sensitization.

Even more powerful was seeing what had become of former students. James, who is deaf and was a student when I first met him in 2007, is now a teacher with a family of his own. Countless others have pursued higher education or found work in construction or other vocations, reflecting how much expectations and opportunities have changed.

Lauren Blair with her family in front of a tree she and her husband planted at the Marafa Special School in 2007

Back to Marafa Special School

Another highlight was our visit to Marafa Special School. Years ago, my husband biked across the United States on a fixed-gear bicycle with friends . Their goal was to raise funds for a dormitory that would allow children with disabilities to attend school in their community. When we visited in 2007 for a Disability Awareness Day, we joined a parade through town. We carried children who had previously been kept hidden before gathering at the school and planting trees to mark the occasion.

Today, the trees are fully grown, and the school serves nearly 150 students with disabilities. Students performed songs, dances, and sign language poetry they had taken to a regional competition. Nearly 20 years ago, we helped bring children out of their homes and into the community. This time, they ran toward us, took our hands, and welcomed us into their school.

Beyond the Classroom

The changes I witnessed extended beyond the schools as well. At a Kupenda disability advocacy workshop, pastors and Christian leaders challenged misconceptions about disability and considered how to better support and include people with disabilities in their churches and communities.

One of the most powerful moments came when a man named George shared how he had grown up being mocked in his village. With Kupenda’s support, he found opportunities to develop his strengths. Today, he is now employed and preparing to be married, a reminder of how much we miss when we allow disability to define how we see a person.

George giving his testimony at a Kupenda Disability Advocacy Workshop

Strength in Unexpected Places

My faith reminds me that God does not measure strength or usefulness the way the world often does. Again and again, He works though people others might overlook, not because every hardship disappears, but because neither our limitations or others’ assumptions about them determine the value of what we have to offer.

Fourteen years later, the changes I witnessed reflected something deeper than growing programs or improved facilities. More people are recognizing the gifts and potential that were there all along. As I watched my children learn and play alongside children with disabilities in Kenya, I felt deeply grateful that they, too, are learning to look beyond assumptions and recognize the gifts all around us.

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