I know what you’re thinking: “For a Mississippi blogger, she sure does write a lot about Africa.” I know…but bear with me. Some things just need saying.
There are some days I think about Africa and others days I “feel” it. Like on cool, foggy mornings much like this one when the world around is hidden just enough that you can almost imagine Limuru tea fields are “just there,” right on the other side of the mist. Or when the sun warms the day in just a certain way that you can feel it on your face. And when the scent of jasmine hangs heavy around your house…then Africa is close to me.
For the longest time, I didn’t quite know what to do with it so close but so far away. Now, I tend to just sit and take time for tea. And savor it. The tea and the memories. And sometimes the tears.
But not today.
Today during teatime, I turned my thoughts to Tanzania and a precious little girl who lives there. I don’t know her well. (After about three years I ought to know her better.) Her letters come through translation (though I always read the Swahili aloud first…and sometimes I actually understand some of it), and they are full of love and prayers and hope. Hope she knows because of Compassion International. She writes of school, which a modest monthly donation enables her to attend. She draws pictures of things in her life, taking time to tell us about herself and about the world around her. And her last letter taught me a little something…
She wants to know about our lives as well. I don’t know why that hadn’t dawned on me before, but after receiving a more info-full letter from us, her response became so much more personal…so much more real. And we loved it.
So, all you Compassion sponsors out there: write your kids! Tell them about your life. Ask them about theirs. Don’t let the love get lost in translation. I imagine your kids will love it…but I KNOW you will!
Wondering what all this talk of Compassion is about? A simple opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child…as well as your own. Visit their website…you can sponsor a child today. And write them a letter, too.
And, if you’d like to know more about Tanzania and Compassion’s work there, visit this site.