I am in a hotel in New York after 30 hours of continuous travel from Nairobi. The trip back to the mountain will be completed tomorrow. Before I lay my exhausted body down to sleep, I want to share the text of a letter I received just a couple of hours before leaving Kenya. Carter delivered it to me after receiving a packet of things from Agnes Musau, director of Drugfighters where Esther is at school. It is a handwritten letter from Esther to me. On the envelope, in her precious child’s handwriting, are these words:

To Tayria
My love

The letter, in child’s lettering, so cute:
Hey,
Dear my friend and Mom Tayria,
I am very very happy that we are friends and that you always think about me. I thank God that he brought you in my life. I always pray for you and your family, that God will continue to bless and help you.
I will miss you when you return back home. Greet all your friends who says that they love me, and tell them I love them too. I love you like my mother and you love me like my mother.
Greet all your children and tell them I love them very, very much. I believe one day God will make us to see each other. Thank you for your gifts. When I see the gifts you gave me I remember you always.
Read Psalms 41:1-3.
Yours in great love,
Esther Nyokabi

Underneath is a pink heart she drew and colored, with the words “Tayria and Esther” inside.
The gifts she refers to are a small bracelet that I gave her with the word “dream” engraved on a silver medal and the scarf I had been wearing that day which both of us had used to mop up our tears.

This helped me to know that my visit to Africa to see Esther hit the mark. She felt it. She knows. Again, my dearest thanks.