Message from Rwanda: Meeting Our Compassion Sponsored Child

Monday, October 18, 2010

Today I got to meet E, a 14 year old boy our family sponsors through Compassion International. I was picked up from the mission house by two young men from Compassion. One was the driver and the other was the interpreter. They took me to the Kanombe Compassion "office" to meet the director, the pastor in the program, and to explain more about the program and the actual introduction.

We drove about a mile on a red and bumpy dirt road made for foot or bicycle traffic. We drove past many modest homes and saw a lot of children waving and pointing and yelling "white person!" in the language Kinyarwanda. We made a few turns back and forth until we came to the top of a hill. Down the hill a ways we could see a boy in a yellow shirt walking the other direction from us. The interpreter said, "there is E there". We stopped the car and started walking down the path. I was watching my feet because the ground was so uneven. When I finally looked up, there was a streak of yellow coming at me! Wham! He almost tackled me. E threw his arms around me and firmly patted me on the back (about 30 times) while giving me a full bear hug. He was not bashful and had obviously been anticipating this moment. He and his brother both live in small houses next door to one another. His brother is a few years older, married, with three small children. E lives alone and from what I could tell, takes care of himself. Their parents are deceased. There is a small plot next to the houses where they grow vegetables. Their homes and the land were small and sparsely furnished, but appeared to be well taken care of. Let me emphasize that E is proud of his home and what he has. In the moments to come I had the opportunity to pity him and to tell him how sorry I feel for him, because he has so much less than me. But I was not about to humiliate or discourage him. I quickly found the positive things in what I saw and let him know I was happy for and proud of him. E invited us into his home. When we walked into his living room just inside the door, there was little room for 5 people. There were two very small benches against two walls where we sat. His home was made of mud. The floor was packed dirt. The roof was tin and flat. I am guessing that this home was about 150 square feet total. E had a tattered map of Africa on his living room wall. My wife and little girls packed a backpack for E as a gift. Inside were some clothes (4 shirts, a package of underwear and packages of socks), candy, school supplies, some personal hygiene items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant) and a calculator. We also included a small picture album with a copy of the Compassion photo of him that we have framed in our home and some pictures of our family. We left room at the end for pictures we plan to send him of the visit. We also gave him a watch, a soccer ball and pump and a hacky sack. When I sat down, I gave him the backpack. He was interested in talking and getting to know me. I know this because he immediately took the backpack and put it in his room. I had to tell him (through the interpreter that I wanted to show him a few things in the backpack). So, he brought it back and we opened it. He seemed to love everything. He then spoke about himself and explained that he is so thankful to have a sponsor. He said that he likes to sing in a choir with other sponsored children. He goes to school and is in grade P6. When E would talk to me, he would look directly at me, deep into my eyes, and explain his message with extreme facial gestures to help me know this was serious and that this wasn't small talk. This was his life and it was important. He also said that I am the closest thing he has to a dad. I do not understand how he feels, but I believe he meant it. We exchanged questions about our families. He asked me if I had siblings. One of the most difficult moments while we were exchanging questions was when he asked me if I had a mom and dad. I wasn't excited about making it clear how great I have it and how he doesn't. I described my family to him. He wanted to know about my job and what state I lived in. However, he did not understand where I live.

I asked if I could take a tour of his home. I was curious about his home and it's layout. His bedroom was small. The nicest possession in the home was his bed. It was actually up off the floor and had a mosquito net. He showed me the kitchen which consisted of two bowls and a pot in the corner. There was nothing else. He showed me the bathroom. It had only plastic pan, one of those yellow containers of water (maybe 5 gallons) and a sliver of soap. It was obvious how he takes a bath. That completed the tour of the interior. He excitedly took me out the back door to the place he cooks his food. There were four rocks blackened by smoke. This where he cooks for himself. He was all grins. Then he started leading me through the banana leaves behind his home. He was going to show me his latrine which is under construction, but the interpreter, pastor, driver, and his brother stopped him. He had spent a lot of time digging this hole and it was a result of his hard work since he has no help. I wanted to see everything he wanted to show me. There are more details and many side thoughts that I will tell to those who ask, but for now I will wrap up this story. E had an exam that he had to take that afternoon which shortened our time together. We prayed for each other and said goodbye. He and his brother's family walked us to our car and we left. The only way to truly feel love is to fall in love. The only way to truly feel the emotions and heartache I felt with E is to sponsor a child and do your best to help someone else rise above poverty. I am a lot closer to making a difference. Maybe my family and I will "only" succeed at making a difference in E's life. Or, maybe we will get better at it and make a bigger difference in the world. All I know is that there are few things out there that feel this good. I hope my friends and family will someday get to feel this. We will continue to keep in touch with E. I believe that God has great plans for him. I will be praying for E that he has a happy life, that he puts the Lord first always, and that he never loses hope.