So it is our last Thursday here at the orphanage and it feels like the past few weeks have absolutely flown by. For the past few weeks, I feel like I have been apart of a huge family. From the multiple mamas that seem to always be doing something, to the gardener outside, to the neighbors that are always walking past our room and calling our names, and to all the kids who come running to us every day with huge smiles and arms outstretched; this place has become a second home to me. It’s amazing how welcoming a group of people can be to a few college age kids from the other side of the world. We have developed this awesome connection with everyone here. Just today, one of our favorite mamas, Mama Agnus, came up to us at breakfast and asked her to help her study for an exam she had coming up. As if being one of the head mamas at a large orphanage isn’t enough, she also takes night classes in town. I asked her if it was just for English, but she explained to me that it covered 7 different subjects, from Biology to History to English. I’m amazed at how someone can handle so many things and still come to the orphanage everyday with a huge smile on her face. So we helped her with some grammar and explained to her why Pluto isn’t a planet and things like that. Since the time we got here, we have got much better at communicating with the mamas. Most of them don’t know much English, if any. However a couple times a day we will glance over at the mamas and notice them laughing at us for something silly we are doing with the kids. It’s kind of a silent form of communication we’ve developed that consists of essentially only laughs. Today Mama Sarah got a kick out of me trying to teach the kids how to do the Macarena and the Congo line. Grim then tried to teach the kids how to do some disco moves, by the end we even had the kids lined up and we were teaching them the Rockettes leg kicking thing. Who knew that I would be teaching dance here? But more importantly than the mamas, our connections with the kids have grown to a whole new level. You can tell simply by the way they greet us everyday after school. At the beginning of our stay, the kids came running to us and gave us hugs simply because we were someone new to play with. But now they come running to us and you can tell that the hugs are because they really missed us during the day. That change alone has been incredible to watch. One of the best sounds to hear is that of one of the kids yelling out our names. Because both Hoss and Grim are Andrew, it was confusing for the kids so they had to come up with new names. So the majority of the time we are referred to as Engineer, Doctor, and Pastor (although it sounds more like Pastah). Today though I did introduce my nickname to some of the kids. Right now they are calling me Sprite which is close enough to Spud so I don’t mind.
On the plane ride here I wondered why it was that God had me working at an orphanage during my stay. I looked into animal conservation and AIDS work, but for some reason decided upon working at an orphanage. Once I got here I started to wonder why God had me placed at this particular orphanage. Slowly I’m beginning to see God’s plan, it’s all so beautiful! I feel like I’m writing as if I’m leaving Tanzania tomorrow, but I still have a whole week ahead of me. I never realized how much you could learn from kids, but when you’re surrounded by two dozen of them for a few weeks you begin to realize why God said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. One of my favorite things here at the orphanage is when I get to play with a girl named Schola. She is about 4 years old and has probably the biggest smile I have ever seen, it literally stretches the entire way across her face and you can see just as much gum as you can teeth. Schola is a kid full of life and loves to sing. Some of the songs she sings I recognize, but a few are new to me and she has to teach me. I think all of them she learned during Sunday school at the local church. In one song, she repeats the word Hallelujah over and over again, I could listen to her sing that forever. But the best part is the way she sings her songs; she sings as if nothing else matters and that even if she only knew that song, life would still be great. I’m beginning to realize what childlike faith really means. I never thought I would learn so much from these kids. It’s kind of sad thinking that I will have to leave this place in a week, but it comforts me knowing that they will be left with the most loving mamas and papas looking after them. So I just finished a book called “This Beautiful Mess” by Rick McKinley. In one of the chapters he talks about kids and the beauty that we can find through them. At one point he writes this: “How silly they are. How wonderfully, worshipfully, beautifully silly!” That pretty much sums up how I feel about these kids. I wouldn’t have wanted to be at any other place for these four weeks, it feels so right here and I know that God had a very specific reason for me being with these people. As everything else in my life, God has it all work out so wonderfully in the end; from the people I meet to the things I get to experience, it’s all part of such a larger plan. I’m sure that as time goes by, more and more reasons for why God wanted me to be here will begin to unravel, for now though it’s kind of sad thinking I have to leave soon. It’s bittersweet thinking that the next time I drop by here, the kids that I know now will probably already be adopted and I won’t see them again. But I know that they will be in a loving home where people would give the world for them, that’s the most important part and all I really care about. For everything that these kids have had to go through they deserve nothing less. I am so thankful for the people at Samaritan Village, I have never seen anyone sacrifice so much to care for others; they truly are living out the Gospels.