My much awaited
Tanzania blog! This is going all the way back to month 6 when I fell in Love
with some pretty amazing kids!
I
fell in love in Tanzania…
In Tanzania I fell
in love with a street kid named Tony. Tony was the first kid I met getting off our
bus in Sumbawanga. Tony was just
standing there smiling and waving to all of us crazy Americans as we got our
huge packs out of the bottom of the bus.
All I could do was hug him and love on him! I felt like a mom! I just
couldn’t stop loving on him and he loved it! But, I had to run and catch another bu
s to our
house, so I kissed him goodbye on his cheek and got on the bus. He waved goodbye to me as we drove off.
(this is me and Tony- before and after his new clothes!)
So we arrived at our house and we got settled
in and we went straight to sleep. I woke up the next morning at 7am (like
always) and our contact, Ruben, said, “I need to take you into town so we can
buy breakfast.” So we drove into town and
we were walking over to buy eggs. I look
over and see a kid running toward me. It
was Tony! He had remembered me from the
night before and he was so excited to see me! He wouldn’t stop hugging me and I just loved
it! I just stood there and rubbed his head with my nails and he soaked it all
in!
I believe I fell
in love with Tony from the first time I saw him as I was getting off the bus.
He just stood there with his little belly that sticks out, his broken sandals
that were useless, wearing his sweat shirt and holey pants. My guess is that Tony is about 11 or 12 years
old. He is a street kid. I have no idea what
happened to his mom or dad, but Tony is homeless and he has noone to love
him. I might be the only person who has ever loved
him. Tony is a gentleman and treated me like a princess! He never asked me for money or for food. He would never let me carry anything; he
would carry it for me. He would have my
bags in one hand and would be holding my hand in his other hand.
(picture of the beauty in Tanzania)
I would go into
town as much as I could to see him and he would always coming running to me! I loved seeing the smile on his face when he
was around me. One day when I went into
town I decided to buy Tony new shoes. He
wanted these red shoes that were way too big for his feet, but he loved
them! He didn’t care if he looked like
Ronald McDonald. He was just excited to
have a new pair of shoes. My last day in town with Tony I bought him a bag full
of goodies and his face lit up like was a Christmas tree! He was glowing and he started bowing to me
and I said, ” NO Tony! Just give me a hug!”
I had him pick out a soccer
jersey, and it was a Messi soccer jersey he picked out! It looked so good on him!
Tony is just one
of the amazing kids I fell in LOVE with in Tanzania. I’m planning on returning as soon as the Lord
tells me when. I would love to start a
street kids’ ministry or open an orphanage for street kids. I will just have to
wait and be patient until my Lord calls me back. I can’t wait until that day!
