As you may remember, I am not much of a crier.
I mean, I haven’t actually cried since Bolivia.
Yep, that was 6 months ago.
I didn’t even see it coming,
And by the time it was upon me it was too late.
But you would have cried too if you had to say goodbye to this little girl.
Meet SokLee, or “Spaz,” as me and Kursti lovingly called her.
She is a tiny little thing with a lot of spunk.
She would sit with me during the VBS programs,
And most of the time she did not sit still. (Hence, the nickname “Spaz.”)
She would follow me to the front when I led the group in songs.
We just had a connection from the beginning, ya know?
And from then on we looked for each other every day.
But there would be days when SokLee was perfectly calm and subdued too.
She would just let me hold her as she stared out and watched the other kids.
I wonder about her home life.
I wonder what it is like to grow up in these slums.
I wonder how many things she sees that no child should see.
I wonder how she still has so much joy.
I also wondered if she knew how special she was to me,
And even if she felt the same way about me too.
And then I said goodbye to SokLee today.
I asked Sreyleak (my Cambodian friend who works for Children@Risk) to tell her something for me.
I told SokLee that I loved her.
That I think she is very special.
That I would miss her and would never forget her.
And that every time I look at her picture, I will pray for her.
So until this point, I was doing just fine.
I was feeling sad to finally have to say goodbye,
But no tears.
UNTIL, little SokLee put her forehead against mine and said,
“I Lub You.”
THEN I lost it.
She had not spoken a word of English in 3 weeks!
I did not have an emotional meltdown by any means,
But there were tears.
And my lovely teammates (I think only 2 of them have seen me cry) also exclaimed “Ruth, are you crying?!”
It was a big deal,
And I guess I didn’t realize just how much this little girl touched my heart.
It meant more than I could ever imagine to hear her say she loved me back.
I am sad to leave SokLee,
But find peace in the fact that this ministry still continues after we leave.
Children at Risk has changed lives in that community
And will continue to do so after this.
SokLee will continue to learn about Jesus,
And how much He loves her.
She will continue getting her hair washed,
Learning English,
And singing praise songs to God.
And I believe that someday, SokLee will bring her entire family to Christ.
She gave me hope for this place and will continue to bring it for others.
Here is a tiny 20 second video of me and SokLee saying goodbye:
