Saturday, July 21, 2007

The Unexpected Gift!

It was a long and fantastic day!!

I didn't have to work today, I planned on sitting around and resting.

I had a gift out-of-the-blue opportunity to head back to Message of Hope.

Tara had to run out to this village to meet with some of her sewing women...amazing delivery...she had purchased 3 sewing machines for them and wanted to document stories & help set them up! Hopefully she'll post on Fount's blog about it.

The trek to Iganga isn't easy...a 3 hr endeavor to get up to the village...a series of taxis, picking people up, bumpy dusty red clay roads, riding on the back of a bicycle for 25 minutes down dirt roads...AND well worth the time I got with the kids!! I left part of my heart there today!

I didn't cry when I left last week, I had a gut feeling that I would see them again this trip...unlikely, but I had a feeling.

Today, I teared up a few times playing with the kids but decided it wasn't best to cry. We keep hearing from people that African's dont cry....and I didn't want to freak any little kids out.

The weepy moments:
I had an cute moment with this little girl. You see, the kids here dont understand hugs. I want nothing more than to hug and squeeze them, I realized it probably wouldn't happen this trip. I'd get close and they laugh like i'm going to tickle them...they dont understand affection.

I had played soccer for 4 hrs with the kids, took a break....this little girl stood
next to me...I decided to stand so close that i'd be pushed my arm up against her arm & shoulder as we watched the boys play. After about 10 minutes, she took my hand an was examining and and playing with my thumb....she looked up and smiled at me. It was such an amazing moment.

I had another strange moment where a little boy got kicked in the head I scooped
him up...he didn't respond or have his eyes open...he just kept wailing...it
wasn't really crying though, so strange to explain by typing.
He cried for 20 minutes, the kids were laughing at me because I was holding him. They didn't understand what i was doing. I rocked him and he eventually fell asleep in my arms. I returned him to a worker as he slept. She was alarmed, I know she was thinking that he was unconscious or dead. She seemed confused as to why I
was holding him for so long.

At the end of the day another kid was crying (same girl who was playing with my
thumb), I went over and held her in my lap and rocked her. It wasn't long before we were playing and laughing together. 15 kids noticed and ran over to join in.
They circled around me sitting on the grass and started examining my white-ness....my long straight hair, the holes in my ears (most kids have holes in their ears but it's to protect against witch-doctors...more
about that another time). I showed them that if you push on my skin it turns white
for a second then returns to the natural color....they all started poking at me and giggling. One kid untied my shoes and was looking at my feet.

All this talking and looking about me and my white-ness...but I didn't understand a thing because n one of them are fluent in english. It was a great few minutes.

I'm in love with this orphanage....the kids adore me, I adore them. It's
out in the middle of no where, 7 acres of land. I taught a little and we played for 5 hrs today while Tara worked. I had the time of my life! I cant wait to show you the pictures.

Posted by Alex

2 comments:

marieyi said...

so good to hear, Alex!!!!!!! well done. :)

Wesley Dumont said...

Nice.