The day dawns with nervous excitement for the team. Today we will meet our sponsor children.
We begin with a short road trip to the Centre of Hope. This is a beautiful facility, with a gorgeous
view donated primarily by World Vision America.
It’s primary purpose is as a gathering, training and youth centre with a
huge soccer field in the back, meeting rooms, technology rooms, kitchen etc. As
I stand in the middle of the big meeting room, I covet the open concept,
windows everywhere, accessibility and multipurpose functions. As I hear of their plans for the facility I
hear God begin to whisper to my heart and I am overwhelmed to hear from him and
dream of the future.
From there we travelled back to COBOCOL ADP. Driving in to
the ADP we notice many children are obviously dressed in their best. The girls are dressed in beautiful dresses,
and loads of bows and beads. Some of the boys have dress shirts and jackets.
Everyone is excited and expectant.
As we mount the staircase to the ADP and I look out at over
300 beautiful faces and their parents awaiting in our arrival, I immediately
spot Makayla, my sponsor child, sitting in the front row in a lovely green
dress. She is taller, than the last
time. In a moment the realization that
so many of these children are connected to people at home that I love
overwhelms me. I am unable to hold back the many tears pouring down my cheeks
as I catch sight of Buba and Walky our KONNECT sponsor children. I am
embarrassed at my uncontrolled tears and try to hide my face so overcome, and
Bernie lays his arm around my shoulder. God is here, his presence is felt so
strongly and we know it.
The staff ushers us to the same room where we will get to
spend a few moments with our sponsor child.
The room is raw with emotion. I watch as Lori’s children enter. Her face
is a mix of emotion as she laughs, cries and smiles with them and their
fathers. Bernie meets with his boys and
we are all amazed at how articulate and confident his older boy presents
himself. I am next.
Makayla arrives, beautiful and shy, with her mother. This is a special treat for me because the
last time I met her I didn’t have the opportunity to meet any of her family members. Makayla seems pleased when I make a big deal
of how much she has grown since the last time I saw her. We talk about what she enjoys, my family and
children and she opens the gift we put together for her. I invite her mother into the conversation and
discover that Makayla now has an 18 month old baby Brother. Quickly her mother and I begin discussing our
rambunctious, climbing, busy sons. A connection
has happened in the room and something nearly sacred was about to happen. Her mother leaned forward and told the
interpretor, while staring in my eyes, “ Thank you, thank you for caring for my
daughter, for helping her grow healthy and strong, for helping her get an
education. Thank you for the gifts, you
make her feel special. You and I, and
she gestured between us, “ we are the same.”
And she leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek.
I honestly had no idea how to respond to this. I felt my
heart breaking in 100 beautiful pieces all over the floor. As we left to go outside to join in the music
and festivities I felt a little lost on the inside, like the truth I had known
in my head and finally hit my heart in such a personal way.
As I walked through the crowd of children and parents,
taking pictures with the children and interacting in broken French with them I
longed for the walls of division and separation to fall between us. The unspoken assumption that distance or
colour makes us different, the “ them” or “ us”
mentality. It is mostly unspoken,
we feel we are refined enough for that, but it is present, it is the lack of
experience, sitting heart to heart, tete a tete and seeing we are the
same. Take care of your own first-these
are my own, our own.
I nearly tripped over a small foot. When I looked up to excuse myself I
immediately recognized that face. It was Kenema, Taylor’s Sponsor child. I
couldn’t possibly be right! I knelt before him and told him my name and asked
if he was Kenema, he was indeed! I nearly cried, so happy to meet him
again. I explained to him as best I
could that my friend was his sponsor parent. He gestured for me to take a
picture of him sitting proudly to show her.
Moments later I stumbled similarly upon Frantzer Ben’s sponsor child and
excitedly explained the same. He gave me
a deep scowl when I took his picture and
then laughed to see it on the camera’s screen.
Presentations and songs from the children filled the
afternoon under the makeshift stage and sound system. At one point we are offered the stage to
share some Canadian culture, instead we all run to ground, gather the children
and parents around us and teach them the hokey pokey with Jason on guitar. The children and parents laughed with us as we
danced and played with them. I looked
up to see the UN Soldiers who had come and set up tents for the children to sit
under all afternoon, all videotaping us with their iphones and laughing and
gesturing at the crazy Canadians.
We feasted on a beautiful array of food for lunch and
attempted to wait patiently while all of the children were fed before we could
go out and play with them again.
Skipping ropes, nurf balls, soccer balls and bubbles came out of the
bags as we played and interacted with the children. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Just before it was time to go one little girl
came up and tugged my shoulder. “ What
is your name? “ she asked me in broken
English, “ You, you give me a dream.” I
looked her in her beautiful brown eyes covered her hand in mind and said “ You,
you give ME a dream.”
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