Doug Van Pelt

Rhoda has a place in our heart [Uganda.26]

It's hard to describe the pure joy and rush that we felt when we met our sponsored child, Kisakye Rhodah (The all important Uganda surname goes first, and their English name second).

One of our team leaders, Brian Seay, sort of apologized to us by describing the sort of different emotions we would encounter on this portion of our day yesterday as like "whiplash." We went from seeing first-hand the treatment and care at the MildMay HIV/AIDS treatment center to being united with our sponsored child. It really was a different perspective of what we were seeing and experiencing, that's for sure.

As soon as we got to the fine Fang Fang Restaurant, we were led to a courtyard section out back. There were several tables under a series of canopies that were to be where we ate with our child, one of their caregivers, and a project worker from where they were from that would serve as a translator. I saw a few children being led out and I spotted Rhoda right away. It looked like she was wearing a similar outfit to the one in her photograph that we'd had for a couple weeks (the one posted here ... on Feb 1). It's not the same outfit, but was predominantly orange. She looked so confident and noble as she walked across the yard. I couldn't wait to meet her. We were told to spread out amongst both sides of the long row of tables and wait for our names to be called to be united with our child. The other folks from our troupe would cheer us on and take photos while we met. After one or two such introductions they called our names. It seemed early to me for some reason and then when I saw "our" child I suddenly thought, 'Wait! That's not her ... is it? Could she have grown a head of hair since her photo was taken?' We were introduced to "Rhodah" as her new parents and we each gave her a hug, handed her a large gift bag, got our pictures taken, greeted each other a bit, and then worked our way around all of the tables to the backside by the fence that we were sitting at. Shortly after sitting down and talking a bit with this beautiful girl, we were called and told with embarrassed looks that it was the wrong child. It was kind of funny and awkward, as this sort of thing never happens (or at least very rarely). Right before one of our local leaders introduced the child, he asked another local worker to introduce the next pair, which was a nice gesture on his part, but a surprise to the worker, who looked at a printout with about 4 or 5 children and their sponsors. He must've read one line and lined it up with another line across the page to make the simple mistake. I felt sorry for the girl, but as soon as her real sponsor, Anne (a great gal to be around) handed her a giant teddy bear, this girl's face lit up. The awkwardness faded away quickly.

When they introduced us to Rhodah after a chuckle and apology, I knew we had the right one. Later on Anne mentioned that she thought the same thing: 'Wait a minute! That girl looks like the one I'm sponsoring...' A flood of joy swept over us like a wave of adoption. It's not exactly the same joy that parents get at the birth of their child (where an immediate love seemingly springs out of nowhere, flooding your heart with nurturing and adoring love ... but it's very similar and high on the emotional intensity scale. You couldn't help but smile to be anywhere near where this was going on. I'm sure I was beaming with joy. Rhoda's mother was with her, who is a beautiful woman with a wide, infectious smile. The local project facilitator that translated for us was a small and petite young woman named Irene, who was a delight to be around as well. We asked questions about where they lived, what they liked, what a typical day was like, what Rhodah's favorite color was (blue), if they had any animals (two pigs and a dog), what her father did for a living (farmer), how many siblings she had, etc. Rhodah was so sweet and shy at first, smiling, but not open to a lot of conversation yet.

Children are taught to bow down out of respect to say thank you; and she did that when meeting us and after receiving gifts. We gave her mother a bag of gifts that included toothbrushes for their entire family (of six) and some other practical and helpful items. She was very eager to sit on our laps. First she sat on Charlotta's knees and got doted on by her. She seemed to be very happy to see us, and she told us through her mom and Irene that this was so. After opening her doll and puppy set, she sat on my knee. When I crawled the puppy around, animating it with yelps and lapping her with affection, she really opened up. She thought it was funny to see me shoot my straw wrapper across the table at a couple traveling with us from the Atlanta area (Carlos and Heather); and she really giggled when I imitated a pig in reference to two of the animals she had.

I asked if the song "Waybaray Yesu" (probably spelled Wabarey) was a popular one. I sang the melody for her and she said it was popular, so I started singing it softly to Rhodah and she joined in. Everybody delights in seeing and hearing a child sing, so it was a really cool moment. It was awesome to connect in that way. Irene was impressed that I knew the song, but it was the joyful, bouncing number that the Compassion staff has shared and blessed us with a couple days earlier.

When we had to say goodbye, it was extremely hard. We all had bonded together and enjoyed each other's presence. I lingered on as long as I could, hugging her mom and Rhodah. Her mother asked me if we'd come back and visit next time. That was a tough question to answer, but since I didn't know that's all I could say. We left and then found out that a couple of the bloggers were using the wifi connection here to post, so we had a few minutes to wait. Charlotta and I both went back in to use the restroom. After I came out, I spotted Rhodah and her mom and watched from a distance, delighting at being able to spy on them in a natural setting. We got to chat a bit more out in front of the restaurant. When they left in their car, we all waved goodbye to each other.

Wow. It was really an emotional high. I am still glowing a little on the inside.

[Coming soon: a description of our dinner with the LDP people at the end of our day yesterday. Today we're off to a safari trip.]

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at February 14, 2008 09:41 PM