Life Lesson from Africa #2

I CHOOSE TO LAY MY LIFE DOWN

Choosing to change the world is neither glamorous nor easy. We decided to take on the Santa Claus occupation; we brought Christmas to the orphans. We came laden with boxes of toys – dolls, airplanes, cars, jump ropes, shirts, both kitchen and doctor play sets. We came prepared with the entire Christmas experience to the kids, including hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas movies. We also came armed with my DVD Player and Projector, as well as a video screen and gasoline for the generator. Then hooked it into their ancient sound system and the kids all gathered with their hot chocolate to watch Polar Express and The Nativity. Many fell asleep in their chairs and on the cement floors, but, a faithful few (around 50) lasted all the way to the end of the night at 1am.

But, to be truly honest, this is a story of which the telling of is much more fun than the living of. Out on a beautiful lake on a gorgeous sunny day, reaching almost 95 degrees, SEEMS like a lavish holiday to those digging there cars out of piles of snow and ice all around the States. However, we had to sweep out and kill no less than 30 spiders from our little hut/room. Those were only the ones we could see with our flashlight, near the floor, we didn’t even want to disturb the one’s above our heads. Before climbing into bed, I brushed off a pile of poo dropping that were resting there. Then I brought my bags and shoes into my bed with me, tucked in my mosquito net tightly into my mattress, and slept fully clothed, praying that I wouldn’t be attacked by something in the middle of the night and that morning would come soon. When I woke up early the next morning, and cocked my head as I focused in on the “poo droppings” resting on top my mosquito net. Turns out that, that scratching I heard all night above me was the BAT that lives in that particular hut. I was happy to not go to bed with that knowledge; then my dreams all night which were full of creepy-crawling things, would have included creepy-flying things as well. And like I said, the telling of this adventure is more fun then the living of it, since my ideal Christmas doesn’t usually include peeing out behind a tree on Christmas morning. In my journeys here in Africa, I have discovered that I can stand almost any “third-world” setting…….but, please just give me a toilet! But, to see how much fun these 200 kids had, was worth it. This is the only toy that these kids will get this entire year and I made a mindful decision not to ask, if they had ever gotten a gift on Christmas before. I didn’t think I would be able to take the answer. It’s not really until looking back on my pictures that I can see the true joy, we got to be a part of on Christmas day