Please Let Me Stay Here

Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord)!

This week has been incredible. There is no word to describe it. All I have are certain moments that keep replaying through my mind. These moments, when I look back at them, are the ones that make me think,"Wow. This is what love is all about."

The first moment was being reunited with some friends that I met last year, mainly my good friend Patrick. It was Sunday morning, and we went to the church service at Rohi. I couldn't concentrate for the entire service, I was so jittery and wanting to get up and out and meet up with the friends I made the last time I was there. I was anxious, nervous, excited and overjoyed. I didn't know if they would remember me or not, but I knew that I remembered them. The service ended and I stood up and slowly turned around. Everyone had mostly cleared out except for Patrick. When I saw him looking my direction, I automatically knew that he remembered me. It was just so cool to realize that even though we hadn't seen each other for 1.5 years, we never really stopped being friends.

The second moment was at the dump, which, ironically, was called the Hilton. My group consisted of Diane, me and our interpreter, Joseph. We were walking up this path to get to a home we were going to deliver a Bucket of Love to. All of the sudden, all of these little kids come running out, all barefoot and covered head to toe in dirt and grime. They ran towards Diane and I, and we couldn't help but to pick them up. I picked up this ADORABLE little boy, who couldn't have been more than 2-years-old. I tried speaking to him in English and then Kiswahili, but it didn't seem like he understood me. It was okay, because no words were needed. The little boy was just looking at me, smiling his cute little smile and running his tiny hands down my face. I didn't care that we were surrounded by piles and piles of trash, or that there were random pigs running around, or that dozens of flies were landing on each of us. I just saw this little boy, who needed to be loved. As I was there, I realized that he could grow up to be a street boy in the future. He could be one of those kids who decided to run away from home and ended up on the streets.

Another moment was on Friday, where I decided to go to Rohi instead of on safari with the rest of the team. I must admit, it was kind of my own selfish reasons, since I already went on safari last time and I absolutely LOVE being at Rohi with the kids. But the kids didn't seem to think so. After the high school closing ceremony (which was 3 hours long. haha), one of the boys I befriended, Benard (yes, it's B-E-N-A-R-D), came up to me and thanked me for making a sacrifice! I didn't even see it that way.

Another instance was just today, as we were leaving Rohi (WAAH). One of the high school boys, Obadiah, came up to me, shook my hand and thanked me for coming. He said that I was a blessing to everyone at Rohi. I thanked him and said, "You guys are more of a blessing to me than I am to you!" And that's really how I see things.

Today is our last day, and I really don't want to leave. Just last night, as we were driving through town, passing buildings not in top shape and faded and peeling paint and dirt everywhere, I was just overwhelmed with how much I love this place.

Mungu akubariki (God bless you),

Danica