the best day ever

One of the women who works at Dawn is a single mother of two boys, Victor, who is 8, and Clever, who is 5. I have adopted them as my Ugandan family while I am here and over the holiday break I was itching to take to boys to do something fun. Earlier that week I was talking to Vanessa, the mother, and she told me that neither of the boys had ever been to a swimming pool. I showed up to their house, which was a one bedroom concrete structure with no power, and told the boys they were going to spend the day with me. I didn’t tell them we were going swimming, just that I had a surprise for them; which wasn’t the best idea since they did not know the meaning of the word surprise, so I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to explain what that meant.  First we went to the store because I needed to get the swimming stuff, like floaties and pool toys. We go buy them and I was sure that this would give away what my plans were but they had no idea what they were for! Then we get to the pool and their faces were expressing the most joy I have ever seen. They started jumping all around and saying “thank you, Auntie!” Like I said, they have never been swimming in deep water, so they cannot swim. We all changed into “bathing costumes,” they were floatied up and I was sun screened up, and then I gave them a quick rundown of- if you get in the water without your floatie…you will die.  I think it is safe to say that this day ranked among the tops of the best days ever for everyone.

Victor is the one on top, and Clever is the botton right.

After 4.5 hours of swimming- well I will call it swimming, but they were floating and I was carrying them, we were all exhausted. The boys did not want leave, but I convinced them it was time to go. I took them to a restaurant to eat dinner.  We sat and talked about all kinds of things while we waited for our food. Among the topics was school. Clever, the younger, was telling me how much he likes to learn and how one day he will go to University so that he can take care of his mother. The conversation warmed my heart as I remembered all of the struggles these boys face every day, but they still had such motivation to make something of themselves.  I really think that being able to spend the day with them was much more of a blessing to me than it was to them.

During dinner Victor accidentally spilled his soda and he kept saying how sorry he was for wasting my money, and how it's ok that he didn’t have anything to drink. I told him that he does not have to worry about money when he is with me, and he could order another soda. He was shocked and so appreciative. Our next conversation was centered on Christmas and the reason we celebrate. “Why do people give each other gifts on Christmas?” I ask them, fully expecting to be the one that explains this to them. “Because the real gift is Jesus.” Clever says, so confidently that I was caught off guard. The boys told me how they wished they could get their mother a gift, because they told me “she spends everything on us, so that we can eat and have clothes. We wish she could have some new clothes.” These boys are absolutely precious and so special. They were wide eyed and bushy tailed all day, and showered me with hugs and appreciative words. I was so happy to be blessed enough to get to take them to do something they had never done, but also just to have the opportunity to serve them, to serve their mother. 

All in all, this day was wonderful. Even though this swimming adventure was definitely different than any swimming trips I have been on- we were stared at all day, which I am used to for the most part but I am sure being a young white girl with two African boys caused a little more staring than usual, I even had people come up to me and thank me for adopting Ugandan children. At the pool I was the only person who knew how to swim, it was cute seeing all the adults with inflatable wings and tubes. A few people asked if they could just watch me swim across the pool. There was one thing that was the same though; I got a pretty good sunburn as a trophy for the day.

I left with much more than a sunburn though, I left with a renewed sense of purpose, an excitement for the days to come, and an embedded sense of joy that can only come from God. I know that is what God desires for me, and for everyone. That night the ideas of loving others and serving others filled my brain. Those concepts have no doubt been a big challenge throughout this entire time, and I finally felt like I had a deeper understanding of them. There are different people with different cultures, backgrounds, religions, and skin colors, on this Earth. But we all have something in common, we are all people. We are all people that were created by the same God, and all people whose only hope is Jesus. That is why I am not only here in Uganda, but why I am alive, and it’s why you are alive. I pray that God gives me more opportunities to simply serve, give, and love others and that I will do it with the understanding that we are no different from one another, no matter how different we are.