Imagine you are teaching a bright group of 6th and 7th graders in a school called Liberty Preparatory School and it begins to rain. Your lesson is going well, when one student is asked to go outside and get the young goat or kid out of the rain. In order to do this he has to get its mother out of the rain first. Once the mother is under cover right outside our class room he is outside running for 2 to three minutes to get the kid. This may seem like a simple and funny occurrence and it really was. Until what I saw happen later. As I was leaving the classroom I realized that the goat had relieved itself right outside of the door. I made sure to step around it because I didn’t want to get any on my shoes. You may be thinking oh I would have done the same thing. It was the next thing that caught me off guard. I watched as my young Ugandan students walked out of the room and saw must of them step right on feces of the goat. Again you may be thinking that is bad luck but they can clean their shoes. And that would absolutely be true if they had shoes on. Many of them did not because when it comes time for school supplies for school shoes are not very high on the list. All I could think was I truly take my home life for granted.
I remember growing up when summer was ending it was time to buy school supplies. Those included paper, pencils, and etc. Another part of those supplies which was just important for me was getting the opportunity to buy new clothes and shoes for the year. It was always a guarantee. I still remember waking up in the morning and my mom handing my sister and I $100 and heading to the Tanger Outlets in Commerce, Ga. It was always a fun time. I was always a good bargain shopper, so I was always assured to come home with a pair of shoes as well as many clothes. This doesn’t even count the sports equipment she bought for me each year as well. $100 may not seem like a lot to many of you but it felt like a lot to me. And for these kids in Uganda it is a fortunate. That amount could pay for their tuition for school for about 5 months if not more depending on the exchange rate.
Realizing those times of things is very humbling to me. I come in to ministry and see kids that are not even stressed by what they don’t have. Just blessed to have what they have. Just yesterday a kid gave me 100 shilling in Ugandan money. I really didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t much but it was probably out of the little she had. And it was just because she wanted to give me something. They bring us in fruit and vegetables just to show their love to us. You can’t help but wonder sometimes what you did to deserve it. They are truly remarkable. When is the last time you heard of a kid asking for homework. Tell me that is not crazy, and for me that is every day at school. They all understand the more they learn the more likely they can afford to put shoes on their feet and future families. I knew Africa was going to have a lot to teach me I had no clue that it was going to teach me more about how to choose joy in all things, and more about how to be a servant. This month I may be the teacher, but I am also the student. I am truly blessed to have some great teachers.
