Smiles

7/2/09
Smiles are the best gift in the entire world. Seriously, smiles are universal no matter what language you speak…whether it’s the smile of a child when you make a funny face, the smile of the older person when you provide them with their only meal of the day, or a smile through tears as you say goodbye to a new friend. Today, I was lucky enough to experience each one of those smiles.
Stephen, Lauren, Ann and I went back to Mama Sarah’s today for the last time before our family has to leave. Stephen and I were able to some of Matt, Stephen and my clothes along with some shoes and the sheets we brought for the safari. I have known this entire time that Mama Sarah is an angel to these group members, but today more than ever before I saw exactly how much she really puts them before herself. We were going on two home visits today so we brought food for the group member at each house….we also had a chance to meet the only orphan in the group who is infected by HIV (luckily the hospitals here are equipped with medicine so when a woman with HIV gives birth they can prevent the spread to the child, so only 1 of the 20 orphans is infected). His caretaker was gone to the forest for work so from the impression we gathered he was just kind of fending for himself so Mama Sarah asked if we could get some food for him as well, which of course we were happy to do. So by this point we have bought food for three members as well as some oranges for the “healthier” members attending the group. Mama Sarah went along with us on all the errands without complaint….we then asked her how she was feeling and she said, “Fine but kind of dizzy”. I asked if she was dizzy from taking the medicine without food and as she looked down at her feet she admitted, “yes, we don’t have any food right now”. What!?! How many of us could say that we ever in our lives have fed people not of relation to us when we ourselves were going hungry…none of us….and I am pretty sure none of us ever will. We were so thankful we thought to ask so we could make sure she and her family had food also. At the end of the visit I took pictures with the members so when I get back you all can see their faces. Also, I may enlist my mom (don’t worry mom if you aren’t feeling up to it this week) to help us start a webpage for Mama Sarah’s group. I will have a copy of their mission statement and what they hope to do to self-sustain themselves (i.e. get on their feet and stop relying on others for outside money) as well as the group members and their overall goals. So needless to say, telling Mama Sarah goodbye today was so hard and I will never ever forget the four visits I have had to this amazing group.

Amani,
Valerie