here's what i say

If you're ever sitting around in your hotel room in Africa, and you're feeling sorry for yourself because you have a bad cold, your computer has been ripped off and the weather's bad, do what I did... hop on the back of a motorcyle (boda-boda) let the wind whip your hair around as you snake your way through a busy city, wind your way 15 miles or so towards Entebbe until you see the Total station in Kajjansi, take a left, then slosh your way up a rutted,muddy path to St. Mary Kevin Motherhood Orphanage.

I guarantee your spirits will be lifted, and then as soon as the children greet you, they will be soaring.

It rained hard last night, so there was standing water everywhere. The baby cow, who has been named Rosemary after the founder/director of the school, was nestled contently in a corner of the little cow pen. No school today, as it is Sunday, so the children were running around playing, sitting quietly talking, washing their clothes, sweeping their "dorm" rooms, making and eating porridge, getting water from the well, generally hanging out. Several were so excited to see me and grabbed my hands to walk about the place with me. Nicholas was one, Sonja another. Sonja is something else. She is incredibly smart and so very kind and funny. She laughs a lot, but her face is often clouded by something I can't even come close to understanding. In four short days I have fallen in love with so many of these kids.

I feel loved in return, and they know nothing about me. It seems as if once everything is stripped away (nice clothes, new car, private school, a big house) I am just me here. I don't need anything to define me. I don't need the trappings of an upper middle class life to make me important, trusted, respected or loved. It's just me - my heart, my smile, my touch, my laughter, my tears, my embrace. Peter told me that I have brought comfort and joy to so many, and you know what? I didn't do a damn thing but put everything aside and just take time to BE ME, BE WITH people and show them I CARE. It is so simple, I know, and it seems so obvious, but with my muddy feet, grit between my teeth, my hair a mess, make-up long ago abandoned,and nothing to offer but a hand to hold, I feel supremely content, at peace, so very happy and so well loved.


Remember how my day started?

Tonight Thatcher, Corbin and I have a date for a nice dinner. Then we are hitting the Kampala Casino! Apparently #17 at the roulette table has been on fire lately, and anyway, what's a person to do with all their extra shillings?