Search for Sophie

I arrived an hour and fifteen minutes late. Sophie was gone and I had to find her. She had opened up so much yesterday and the
last thing I wanted was for me to be the cause of her set back. Here she was gone all because I was out
shopping for a computer camera for the family.

It was after noon before we even left the house for
town. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be
back in time but I also wanted to spend time with Paul and Eunice. Since being here, my goal has been to get
close to each member of the family in a special way.

I watched as Paul went from store to store looking for
this camera and headphones. He bartered
until he came to the price he was willing to pay. 

It was 2:15 before we were finished. At that time Sophie sat at the church waiting
for me. She was so anxious for she had
such a good time yesterday. For the
first time in her life she felt valued, free to be herself. She felt worthy; useful. And now for every minute she waited
disappointment grew within her. She
thought back to how she felt abandoned by her mom and dad when they died and
now she was abandoned by the one person she had trustingly been vulnerable
with.

So, while Eunice, Paul and I were grabbing a quick bite
of lunch from the market, Sophie packed her things, gave up on me and left. She had it in her mind to never attend
another all girls’ bible study again. 

I frantically sent Paul off, rushed Eunice through the
market and busy streets onto a matatu (public transport). The moment I thought I could feel a sense of
relief being the first on the bus, Eunice informed me we wouldn’t move an inch
until it was full. 

I sat unable to laugh at Eunice’s jokes, unable to move,
and worried for Sophie. Meanwhile Sophie
was on the shortcut walk two blocks from the church towards home. 

Suddenly called home, Eunice jumped off the bus and I was
left alone to make my way to the church. Speaking hardly any Swahili, I kept my mouth shut and allowed my heart
to race. I tried to maintain the “back
the heck off” look on my face. The
driver’s attendant kept looking at me and laughing. Every now and again as he rode on the door,
he would glance my way, smile and find some way to put “American” in his
dialogue with the driver.

Finally I heard, “Carwash” and knew I was at the right
place. The attendant was nice enough to
remind me of my stop. As I maneuvered my
way through the overcrowded bus, nervousness grew. I was unsure of my surroundings and not
completely confident I was going in the right direction. Then I saw it, a wonderful sign with an
arrow: Deliverance Church Kibos Rd. I
walked as fast as I could past the car wash, loud music, butcher, crying
babies, salons, ladies washing signs in the park, little girl riding a tricycle
in the street, young boys pushing water buckets and random baby goats crossing
the way.

I reached the fence for the church, was greeted by the
“Mazungu” calling gatekeeper and rushed to find my girls. “You’re late,” Judy exclaimed, as she is
always making the most obvious statements. I ran into the church one hour and fifteen minutes late (African Time)
apologetically. Nancy and Theresa didn’t
mind but they dropped their faces, “Sophie went home after one hour.” Arrgggh. For once an African comes on time for a meeting and the ever complaining
American is LATE! I’ve really messed up.

I knew I had to make amends. Sophie needed to be here. We called Julius who gave us directions to
David’s home who would take us to the home of Sophie’s guardians. When we arrived at the home of David, his
elder brother answered. With David not
being home, he decided to take us to a furniture shop (hand crafted) to ask the
neighbor of Julius where Sophie lived. He phoned Julius who gave him complicated directions to Sophie’s. 

After walking around curves, soda shops and puddles, we
came to two blue gates that the end of the third street. Unsure of which gate to knock, we knocked on
both calling out for Sophie. At the
second gate the guardian of Sophie came out. “Sophie is at bible study,” he tried to assure himself.