For the past two nights our family has had the privilege of being a "host" family for a 10 year old Ugandan orphan girl and her chaperone. The girl's name was Faith, and her chaperone was auntie Shova from Nepal. They are both part of an organization called World Help http://www.worldhelp.net/and are in a "traveling" choir called Children of the World Choir. They performed at our church last night to a packed out house. The kids (13 of them) were nothing short of spectacular! To see their faces light up while they sang their lungs out to Jesus was completely moving.
Without going into great detail, these kids are all orphaned and most have been affected by HIV in some way or another through their families. Thankfully, none of them actually have the disease themselves. The pure joy they bring was contagious. Faith lit up our home with her dark skin and pearly white. Shova (her chaperone) was a petite Nepal girl with long beautiful black hair down to her waist. We learned over dinner, that she loves American Idol! We were quietly reminded when it was 8'o clock the last two nights. We played Simon and critiqued the contestants, and I was told I was actually harsher than Simon. Although I dress better.
Faith called me "uncle" and my wife "auntie", and in the few short hours we spent with her, a magical bond that could only come from God was formed. The real icing on the cake was last night after their concert. When the children were exiting the stage, Faith was first to come down. She spotted me sitting on the edge of the aisle, and as she approached I put up my hand to give her a high five. She wanted nothing to do with that. She ran towards me put up her arms and jumped into me with a ferocious bear hug and held on. I just about lost it right there.
Whew. It was stinking awesome. Later that night we took some funny pictures and put them in her scrapbook. This morning we said goodbye to Faith and "auntie" Shova as they were off to another performance. They are currently in their 8th month of a 10 month U.S. tour.
During the performance last night they showed about a five minute video of how HIV/AIDS has ravaged their home of Uganda, and what I consider pathetic support given by so called Christians and their organizations. Seventy to ninety percent of the world aids pandemic stems from the sub-saharan region of Africa. Most Christian organizations (percentage wise) don't do a thing about this pandemic. When people say "how can God let this suffering happen?" I want to say..."how can WE let this happen?" I know there are hundreds of organizations out there that we should support, and have an excuse for why we aren't - but pick one. How about just one? Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do! - or wear dark sunglasses and act like we don't see the truth. What's the mantra - out of sight out of mind? Well that's convenient. Jesus says - whatever you do for the least of these you do for me! Sorry, but I was so touched by these kids and by Faith, that maybe it was God's way of slapping me upside the head and saying "what are you waiting for?" "All that talk Steve don't mean jack!" If anyone reads this blog, I'd love to hear some ideas, and action plans for the next year. Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus, because I sure saw his face last night!
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