Street Boys

God gave me just what I needed today.

We had morning class at the house today. We were perfectly content thinking that we would be having a relaxing afternoon of vegging out and finishing up homework. We have easily fallen into a lazy rut of relaxing in the afternoons. Not today!

Jessica, a former Go Ed student came for lunch to tell us about the street kids ministry she had started after her semester 3 years ago. She is truly an amazing woman. She invited us to come and meet the boys so we decided to go today. I was tired and almost considered not going. It is very easy to feel uncomfortable going into the inner city of Kampala. We took a matatu downtown and then walked for a while.

We came up to this "church" which is made of sheet metal and has two open walls. The boys sleep there at night with guards keeping watch so that they don't have to worry about being kidnapped, raped or stolen from at night. We went and met some of the boys and then a bunch of the neighborhood children came to meet us too. They got really excited about our cameras and we let them take turns taking pictures of us and each other on them. I danced around with a few of the younger boys and girls that came to play. They were so cute! and they were dancing the traditional dances that we saw a few weeks ago being performed by professionals.

This one little boy had on a ripped and filthy shirt that said "I am special". For some reason that really moved me. All of these children are so so special to God. They are his children and, to quote "The Shack", he is "especially fond" of them. I picked the boy up and hugged him tight and he told me over and over in my ear "I love you". It doesn't get any better than that. Then I played with a little girl names Ayesha. I held her on my lap for about an hour. Everyone in our group had a child in their arms except for the ones playing soccer with the older boys. We didn't want to leave, and they didn't want us to. One of the boys put a small bead necklace that he had made in my hands. The boy with the "I am special" shirt started crying when I gave him a hug goodbye.

We walked to one of the boys homes that Jessica helped start. It was a little house with a tiny courtyard. The boys showed us their keyboard that played different beats and we all danced and laughed. They had a really cute dog that was well fed and fluffy (and had all its shots). The boys are taken off the streets and they get help with quitting the drugs they are on. Many of the boys come in addicted to sniffing petrol, because it takes away the pain of hunger, the cold, helps them sleep, and they are able to forget their circumstances. The boys were great!

We walked a long way back to the matatu park and caught our ride home. We had ribs for dinner and now are relaxing after a long hot day. I hope we get a chance to go back. I really needed to step out of the comfort zone I had made for myself. It was an amazing afternoon.