When I was a boy, I would spend my summers out in my yard, riding bikes, climbing trees, playing in the hose, and getting dirty.
10 years, later, I’m reliving my childhood.
We have been at Kedesh Orphanage for about a week now, and I’ve been back at my roots for about a week. I didn’t have many expectations for this month, but pulling into the compound, seeing boys running up to help us unload, a jungle house surrounded by mango trees, a volleyball court, soccer field, and hearing great music on the loudspeakers, I knew I was home. I immediately fell in love with the boys here. They are truly the most considerate, humble, and sweet boys I have ever met. They go out of their way to honor us, and it makes wanting to spend time with them too easy.
Kedesh is an all-boys orphanage run by John, who was a contractor in the States and came here to raise boys and teach them practical skills for the real world. Everything that has been built here has been built by the boys. Sure, it means the walls aren’t perfect or the doors don’t quite fit in the door jams, but it means that when these boys turn 18 and are sent out, they have great skills that can be used to make good money. It also teaches the boys responsibility and makes them invested in this place.
I’ve come back to my roots here. Ministry doesn’t feel like ministry. I get to be a kid again and have fun all day. I sit here every day wondering “Is this really my life right now?” To get an idea of how much I love this place, after spending less than 24 hours here, I knew I was going to be a wreck when I’m forced to leave in a month.
Instead of having some deep insight, here are some of the things we’ve done in “ministry” so far this month:
-play volleyball pretty much every morning
-listen to devotions by John
-Climb mesh wall and have races over it.
-cook over a kilo of popcorn every night for our nightly movies.
-Climb through the jungle (a circle of trees where you have to climb around them all without touching the ground)
-Run a half-mile trail through the property barefoot (and in the rain sometimes)
-Climb a water tower to watch beautiful sunsets.
-Clean the boys bathroom with Tito and Blondie.
-Ultimate Frisbee (the best is when it’s raining)
-bucket showers next to a well
-Dance parties in living room
-Climb trees and picking mangos
-Herd goats
-wrestle the boys
-Wash my hair…in the rain
-Swim in a “lake,” aka a muddy, leach-infested pit
All of those things have been beyond fun, but my favorite moment of the month and probably the race so far was 2 nights ago when 4 of the boys decided to sleep on their straw mats next to my tent, under my rainfly. It was like a little slumber party right on the ground in the middle of Mozambique. That’s when I knew I fit in here. Having four little guys right there next to me, laughing and giggling at the girls in the nearby tents brought me so much joy. It brought me back to the days when I had tent sleepovers in my front yard. Knowing that these four boys would rather sleep on straw mats under my rainfly instead of their own beds proves that these little boys from a Mozambique orphanage have more to teach me about love than I could ever teach them.
For the next month, I’m going to be a shirtless, shoeless boy running around an orphanage in the middle of Mozambique. I’m going back to my roots, and I’ve never been more joyful.
*I’ve been really lazy about pictures, so I’ll try and post some in the next blog!
