Come away with me now and bask in the beauty of a smile, a very special smile…the Light of Beloved Morning! Please receive with me this great gift and know in this moment: Love you are sending through me is touching and nurturing this child and many others here…
With 2 bicycles loaded aboard the NGO truck (and all the other things I wrote about in my ‘Ps…’ last posting) and heading out of Mbale town yesterday in the powerful heat of mid day, 2 counselors and I
set out for Bukedea to visit both the families of Betty and Gideon…
I hope you will enjoy a few more photos from the day…After both Betty and Gideon took pleasure in the inaugural ride on each of their new bikes, of course all the children in both families tried them out. I had to lift up and hold both Morning and little Peter on the seat as I jogged with each around in circles in the compound…ah, there was great laughter and joy! And Naume, Martha and Helen..they all glided their way with great ease and confidence…I was thinking how the wind in their faces was feeling…I was considering their sense of newfound freedom…! It was all together VERY fun!
from…
At day’s end, Gideon sent the girls Naume and Martha to fetch something. Not sure where they had gone I asked him to explain and understood him to say that they were going to be bringing me a ‘coke’. ‘Oh’ I said, ‘don’t worry, I am ok, I have water in the truck.’ He said ‘Please let us do this for you’. ‘Ok, certainly, thank you…’ I watched as the girls ran here and there, I wondered where on earth they were planning to get a coke
Next thing I knew, the girls were coming towards me with a rooster tucked under Naume’s arm, the legs of which they were busily trying to tie…they laid it on the ground beside me. Oh… the penny dropped! A cock, not a coke, you say! (an ‘o’ sound is often expressed here as in the word ‘coke’)
Incredible! In Africa it is a great honor to give and to receive a cock (which I will refer to as a rooster from now on)! For me, receiving such a meaningful gift from a family of children who are living in rural Uganda in Africa reaches far beyond being a great honor…it is a deeply profound and most precious expression of Love and I will hold it tenderly in my heart forever.
I have decided I will call my new friend ‘Sunrise’ and every morning when he crows me awake I will remember with humility and gratitude the Light that shone this day!
Creator Thank You For Love…
Catherine
Ps…As I lay for sleep after the great bike day, I was remembering when I was a little girl and my parents bought me new shoes…Mom always found me such pretty ones and I Loved my new shoes. I would place them neatly beside my bed so that I could see them first thing in the morning when I woke. I was wondering how both families would be sleeping that night, or if they even could! Now, not only several children huddled together in each little hut but a bike leaning against the wall…hopefully shining brightly in the light of the beautiful stars above!
