I've been sitting looking at my screen for the last 20 minutes trying to find the words to describe yesterday. I know it sounds cheesy but yesterday was breathtakingly perfect. Here is why...
Many of the people on our team are on their second, third, fourth, and even fifth trip to Uganda. The biggest problem with coming to this country is you cannot leave without giving your heart away to the children here. This has moved almost all of our team members to sponsor children through Compassion International. Yesterday we had the opportunity to spend the day with our "sponsor families".
We met our children at a local hotel where many of them spent the night after traveling to see us. After a brief time of prayer we loaded the children into a bus and drove to another hotel in Kampala to eat lunch. It was so fun to watch the children, many of whom had never eaten with china, table linens, and silverware, feast on their favorite foods! They even drank a bottle of soda.
With full bellies and big smiles we were off to the zoo. The zoo is a weird concept for Americans when we think about Africa because the misconception is that all of the African animals are wandering around waiting to devour us. The truth is, for most of the children, this was the first time seeing lions, giraffes, warthogs, and zebras. The expressions on their faces were priceless.
The climax of our time together is when we finally give our gifts to the children. Book bags filled with basic necessities, candy, games and clothing light up the childrens faces like Christmas morning. It's humbleing to see how precious these items are to them. The words thank you and I love you fill the air while hugs are being shared. Thank you Jesus for these kids!
By this time it was quite late and was time to dine at our favorite local eatery. Faces were stuffed with fried chicken, roasted chicken, fries (chips), pizza, soda, and ICE CREAM!!!!! They were so happy it didn't even bother us when the ice cream melted all over their new clothes. We crawled into the van with tummy aches and heavy eye lids and made our way home.
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