Kids

On Tuesday I was able to go into a slum of Uganda and hang out with some kids. The slums are where the poorest people live. Many of the children that I saw have not eaten in a few days. They smelled so bad. They were covered in dirt as well as much more. A few times I was unable to breathe because the smell was so bad. However, the joy that these kids had when we were holding their hands hugging them and just lavishing love upon them made me forget about the smell. I had one girl and one boy who would not leave me. They held me hand the entire time. One time when I put my hand down the girl picked it up and put it around for neck and held my hand that way. Looking back at this experience my heart is broken. These kids are not treated the way that they should be. They eat things off the ground (if they are lucky) they are beaten and abused. Every time I come home from college my dad says, “when are you going to have kids, I’m ready for grandkids.” I then inform him that I first need to finish college. But when that girl took my hand and just held it and wanted to be close to me, I wanted to call home and tell my parents that I am bring a child home with me, and that I would come home and get a job to support her. This way of thinking and planning I was hoping would make it easier to say goodbye to her. Knowing that I would never see her again broke me heart. Not knowing if she had a meal to eat or if she is being abused frustrates me. But all I can do is pray for her and hope that I showed her God’s love and my love for her. I knew coming into this experience that I would see things that I do not witness in the States. I did not know that it would affect me like this to see the kids so mistreated. When they came to us they did not want anything, all they wanted was for us to spend time with them and love them and hold them. Leaving the slums and saying goodbye to the girl was hard I just hope that I stewarded my time the best I could with her and gave her as much love as I could. Knowing that I will do this all over at a different place on Tuesday makes me wonder if there is any hope for a change to come for these kids to live normal lives, to go to school, to grow up in a loving home, and to be free of abuse. Even though my surrendering says otherwise I hope that there is an opporinty for positive growth for these kids