To Africa and Back Again

How was your summer?
Such a simple question.
And asked quite often these days as friends run into each other in the School Supply aisle and are starting to think about everything else associated with the fall season that is coming sooner than we think.  (At least I hope the cooler, crisper weather is right around the corner as I sit inside to avoide the scorching heat and temperatures soaring into the 100's where I live.)

Such a simple question, yet I don't know how to answer:
Good.
Really good.
Busy.
Packed.
Crazy.
Chaotic.
Amazing.
Eye-Opening.
Energizing.
Tiring.
Life-Changing.

I guess when you go to Africa, something happens in your heart - and mind.  You leave and come back a different person.  You travel all those miles, and somewhere along the way, you become someone else.  Or a newer version of yourself.

I don't really know how to explain it.  I am going to try my darndest, but until you have gone on a trip like this yourself, you truly don't understand.  You can try.  But you can't.  You just can't.

Pictures only tell you a TINY bit of the story.  They give you a SMALL glimpse into the reality of what took place.  They can NOT capture the emotions, the feelings, the heartache, the joy, and everything else unseen in those snapshots.  They do NOT do the breath-taking scenery justice, nor do they implode your senses with the smells and sounds of the poverty everywhere you look.

View out the window of our room at the guest house

I took over 500 pictures while we were in Ethiopia.  I could show you ALL of them. (You can actually see them on my Facebook page, if you want.)  I could tell you what was going on in each and every one.  I could explain what we were doing with the kids, how they were laughing and singing at the top of their lungs or crowding around us and not giving us room to breathe.  I could share how they would thank us profusely for a simple shirt or proudly show us their ITTY BITTY TEENY TINY room they shared with 3-7 other kids.

Even after sitting with me for HOURS looking at pictures and listening to me retell every aspect of our trip, you would NOT understand completely all that took place - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

Until you have witnessed a couple meeting their daughter for the first time...

Until you have stepped inside a room of 30+ 2-3 year olds sitting quietly in a circle, each eating peanut butter and "oatmeal" from a cup...

Until you have had a bone-thin mother holding her small child run to your car window and beg you for money and/or food while you sit in bumper to bumper traffic...

Until you have sat on a metal bunkbed with a child delighted to call the 8x8 concrete room his/her home and you realize that ALL their belongings fit in the small suitcase at the end of the bed...

Until you hold a baby boy in your arms and hear how he was put in a trash bag by his 14-year old mother who had been raped and wanted absolutely nothing to do with her child...

Until you drive past a landfill, closing the windows and putting your scarf over your nose and mouth to block out the stentch, and watch people searching for food to eat and items to sell...

Until you sit and let a girl paint your nails BRIGHT yellow and see the pride in her eyes when she finishes your maincure...

Until you play soccer on a 10x12 concrete courtyard with drying laundry hanging on one side and a brick wall topped with barbed wire on the other...

Until you have walked into a classroom with over 30 benches (resembling those from a one-room school house) expected to seat 60+ students and absolutely NOTHING on the bare white walls...

Until you have seen the smile of a girl holding a new pair of shoes that sparkle and shine...

Until you have waited for a herd of goats to cross the road so you can be on your way in your CAR...

Until you witness a woman carrying water in jugs up a mountain...

Until you have seen a kitchen with HARDLY any ventilation or lighting and NO modern appliances and realize the cooks prepare food for over 60 kids every day...

Until you have seen the beautiful pottery, scarves, purses, and other hand-crafted items made by women rescued from prostitution and human trafficking...

Until you have 10+ kiddos hanging on you and wanting to play with you, despite not being able to speak the same language...

Until you jumprope with boys and girls who don't have any other outdoor toys, except maybe a tattered ball...

Until you listen to those same children clap and sing and dance their hearts out, full of joy and peace and strength...

Only THEN would you be able to begin to understand what I saw and did and felt on our trip to Ethiopia.

Only THEN would you start to realize why I might start crying in the grocery store or the School Supply aisle at Wal-Mart.

Only THEN would you possibly fathom why I don't want a dream house (I already live in one if you think about) or luxury car or expensive jewelry or namebrand purse.

Only THEN would you grasp how BLESSED we are.
Only THEN would you sense my urgency in wanting to fill out paperwork to bring an orphaned, abandoned child home to be part of our family forever - to love them and pour into them and help them see how much potential they have, how powerful they are, how gifted they are, how THEY can dream big and change the world.

So, how was my summer?
I don't really know what to tell you.

Maybe next summer, we can experience this TOGETHER...