May 27th - Thursday

This morning we went to visit some school kids in their community. Mike and the translator (Simon) played soccer with the boys and Heather and I painted the girls nails. They loved having their nails painted! Because the kids here don’t wear shoes (can’t afford them), the girls had next to no nails on their feet, except for the big toe. It was strange just painting their skin with the polish... A lot of the girls also had very dark nails due to mal nutrition. It’s hard to see.

I also got to pound maize. Well I didn’t really pound much! It is so difficult! The stick is so heavy and the women here pound hour after hour! And sometimes with babies strapped unto their backs! And it’s so very hot... They definitely earned my admiration. We have it so easy in Canada with our instant food and microwaves. It’s ridiculous the amount of work that those women do every day, on top of caring for the children, and their husband!

Mike shared the story of Esther with the school kids, and it’s hard to know how much they understand. We find it very hard to talk through translators as it’s always difficult to know what is being communicated!!! While he was sharing this story, this little boy came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. Most kids here are, at least at first, very cautious around us white people! I think they find us scary, especially since many of them are told that white people eat children!!! Sort of like the “boogie man”...

Anyway, this little boy comes up to me and looks into my eyes (I’m sitting) and he broke my heart... His face was full of boogers, he had flies crawling all over it (like in all those world vision clips) and had the dirtiest clothes I have seen on a person to this day. His shorts were in such bad shape that they were completely open at the bottom and left everything (and I mean everything) hanging in the open. He dragged his bum around in the ground, and when he came back to see me again, I realized that his clothes were also soiled from his “emptying himself” and I’m putting it nicely. He tore my heart open, literally! I wrapped my arms around him and had to fight the urge to pick him up, fetch some water and give him a good scrub. That would be the least someone could do for this dear child. I wanted to take him home and love him like my own. My heart could not bear this. I have seen much poverty, much sickness since coming here. But for some reason this little boy just took everything in my heart and spilled it out in the open. When we came back home (to the farm), I wept, and wept, and wept. I wept for all the poor children of this world, I wept for my baby boy who has so much and doesn’t even know it, I wept for me, who has more than enough and still wants more. I wept for all the people who die without knowing Christ and wept some more, for this little boy... and I don’t even know his name. He changed me. He broke me. Broke me in the same way God breaks for people. I cannot go back home and be the same. And I have to do something for this child. (stay tuned for the rest of the story tomorrow).

After this, we went to help out serve lunch at the school. I love this ministry, it makes me happy! The children are so thankful to be getting food. I scrapped the bowl of “sudsa” until there was no more, I scrapped it with my bare hands and gave all that I could to those children. I had to after the morning I'd had! They were so thankful. We have so much to learn from them!

This afternoon we went to visit some of the orphan kids we had done crafts with a different day (those flower pen). I love this community, the granny there is so awesome!!! We bought all of the pottery that she makes and I really hope that at least one of them makes it home un-shattered! They are beautiful work of art :)