I will not begin my journey on the world race until next September, but I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the first week of my Christmas holiday this year volunteering at an orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania. I have been intrigued by Africa since I was little, and I’ve wanted to work at an orphanage since I can remember, but little did I realize that the kids I would meet would etch such a place in my heart.
I love working with kids. I do it everyday at my work. I’m so thankful to have a passion for something that I am able to fulfill in so many different settings! However, something about this experience over Christmas felt so much different than the typical day of teaching. The entire week was a blessing and you can read about it more on my Morocco blog, lbienz.wordpress.com. Contact me if you need invited to view it- it will be open to public viewing again in June! 🙂
In this blog, I am going to focus on my experience serving the 29 orphans from Samaritan Village orphanage as well as hundreds of other kids on Christmas Day.
First, I woke up at 5 AM to the chapel music that blasts each morning- a much different sound to my ears than the call to prayer that I hear in Morocco! I decided to get up on Christmas morning and see what was happening. I saw many of the kids from the orphanage filing into the chapel, and when I heard them playing Silent Night in Swahili, I decided to go down. We spent the half hour praying, singing a few worship sings, and then listening to Josephat, the director of the orphanage, preach what I’m assuming was the Christmas story in Swahili. Then, we played with the kids in the morning and had a visit from some Dutch visitors, one of whom dressed up as “Father Christmas”- their term for Santa. This completely terrified Isaac, one of the little boys I have just fallen in love with here! I’m thinking next year he may enjoy Santa a bit more 🙂 He did like the truck he got from him!
Every year the orphanage hosts a Christmas lunch for all the kids at the orphanage as well as the neighborhood kids. The kids living at the orphanage, probably due to sponsors as well as all the donations and funding the orphanage receives, are much better off than pretty much all the neighborhood kids.
On Christmas Day, not only did the neighborhood kids show up, but there were also a group of kids from the local HIV clinic as well as kids who had walked a couple hours, some carrying younger kids, just to get orphanage! In all, there were around 400 kids who we got to serve and spend our Christmas Day with!
The kids started arriving around 3:00 and there was Christmas music playing as they sat in the chapel. Eventually we needed overflow seating, and even that wasn’t enough. Kids kept coming, even after the service had started. There was a short kids service in Swahili. The only words I could pick up were Christmas and Cristo (their word for Christ), but it was a pretty fun, interactive message. Then, the kids got to volunteer to go up front and answer questions. They won schoolbooks and pencils for their answers.
Next, it was time for lunch. I washed hands as the kids lined up to get their food. It was a fun way to get to see and wish merry Christmas to most of the kids who were here! They were smiling, so eager to get their plate of food, and it was nice to be able to wash the hands of all the kids I had gotten to know over the week.The bucket of water was quite muddy by the time we were done!
The kids then packed the playground where they ate their huge plates full of food (most of them couldn’t finish it all), and then they played- I never imagined they could fit so many kids on a swing!
At the end, all the kids gathered in the courtyard and some volunteers passed out candy and a pencil to each kid before they left. Many of the kids didn’t want to leave, as for many of them this is their one chance of the year to play on a playground and get a full meal of good food.
I don’t know that I will ever have a Christmas like this again, but I want to make it a goal to be sure that each Christmas I am doing something for others. I was moved to near tears a few different times throughout the day, and I have definitely fallen in love with this place- as well as with a little boy named Silas who calls every volunteer “mom,” and just melts my heart each time… I may just have to make my way back here eventually! 🙂 I am excited to see what God has in store for Christmas next year when I am on the world race!
Merry Christmas to all, and thanks for the continued prayers as I prepare to head back to Morocco at the end of the week, and as I finish up my last 6 months of teaching there. If you want to know more about Samaritan Village orphanage, you can go to their website here– it is an amazing ministry they have going in Tanzania and I know they are searching for sponsors for some of the kids there right now!
