Utter awesomeness.
Finney, Pastor Philemon of Deliverance Church’s son, decides to take Mallarie, Jessica and I on a small short adventure to the well down the street from our house on the last day of our stay in Uganda. Everyone was just sitting around the house waiting until the farewell “fellowship” at 4 so the three of us jumped at the opportunity to get out and do something. We walked down the half paved roads, past tons of random livestock (cows we touched, goats and chickens we just chased, except for the baby goat we held AWESOME) and lots of little kids yelling “Mzungo” (which means white person in Swahili) and waving madly, and lots of adorable teenagers carrying yellow plastic water filled jugs on their heads (no easy feat, Mal, Matt, Ryan and I tried it out and the fifty-plus pound jug almost toppled us over and snapped our necks). We ended the short walk at the well we’ve seen several times before. Then Finney tells us that the well actually belongs to a refuge home for street kids called Smile Africa!! The place was filled with kids! So close to our house!!!
We happened to stumble upon it right at lunch time, so being crazy mzungos we decided to help pass out the bowls of lunch rice. And then we got to stay for at least two hours, playing endless games of tag with these kids. And man. Ugandans are just as fast as Kenyans. Their energy is ENDLESS. Mallarie sprinted back and forth across the fifty meter lawn with at least twenty kids following in hot pursuit until she was spent and then decided to teach them to cartwheel! Meanwhile, Jessica decided to start swinging kids in circles, which by the way NEVER gets old to kids, especially when there are hundreds of kids who all want at least one turn. And in this time one little boy catches my heart and gets me to pick him up, not to be put down for the complete remainder of our stay. I sprinted around with twenty extra pounds sitting on my hips, giggling and teaching me Swahili for lips and eyes and nose.
Those kids were the highlight of my time in Uganda! Maybe all three of us, for that matter. I wish we’d known they were RIGHT there earlier!!! Those couple hours were exhausting and amazing. SO well spent. LOVE African kids. And they need so much love too! It’s awesome to see God working through the selfless people there, who were native Ugandans! Just working for the Kingdom. Awesome.
You rock Smile Africa! Making a difference for tons of kids on the streets of Tororo!
If you are ever bored or have too much energy you are not spending enough time with the kids out there who need your love 🙂
Lesson learned.
