Well, it's officially my last weekend in Kabala. I'm headed to Freetown on Monday, and then flying to Zimbabwe next Friday, August 6th, for a couple weeks to visit my 'big sister' and be there for my goddaughter's baptism. It's hard to even write this blog because I don't want to face the fact that I have to say goodbye to my amazing family and friends here once again, for the third time in the past 3 years. I love hellos, I love reuniuons...but I hate parting with people you love, especially when you have worked so closely with them for the last 3 months!
I am thrilled at the way the program is running, and I am confident that we are leaving it in the capable hands of the youth, church leaders, and Reverends here...so I cannot wait to return next year and see what God has managed to do through this program! Honestly, it is bigger than I ever could have imagined, and the impact it has already made is hard to grasp.
I have realized that investing in people is the most worthwhile aid you could ever give. When you empower people to recognize their value, strengths, beauty, and simply enable them to start building a better life for themselves and their family, you will never be disappointed. I have also realized that the gratitude and love people here have shown me is the most wonderful, amazing, and humbling thing in the entire world. I took a motorbike trip to Yarah this week, a village where Martin Koroma, one of the scholarship recipients is from, to say goodbye to my friends and family there. As we were saying goodbye, Martin's whole family gathered and asked me to come sit down, and his Auntie started talking about how immensely grateful she and her whole family are for Katie and I, the program we've started, and the hope we've brought to their family by giving their son a scholarship. She proceeded to say that their family was not rich, they had nothing to give me, nothing that could even begin to compare to what Katie and I had already given them, the hope we had put back into their lives. But she said, "What we are giving you is nothing in size, and it may seem meaningless, but know we are giving it with our whole hearts", as she offered me three chickens, a huge bowl of rice, and a huge bag of groundnuts (peanuts). There was tears in my eyes as I listened to her apologizing because the gifts they had given me were too small...because in my heart I knew these were the such precious, wonderful, and heartfelt gifts, and I did not even deserve them, because this whole program is God's work...Katie and I are just the servants who were asked to do the task. I am so amazed, humbled, and constantly thankful for the fact that God opened my eyes and my hear to this country...I know my life will never be the same because of it.
I wish I could express in one blog what I've learned this summer, but it would be impossible...even if I wrote a whole book, I couldn't express it all. I hope to talk to many of you about my experiences once I get home to Canada in August! But to sum up what I've learned, I think I could say this...
1) The community is SO grateful for this program, believes in in, and really needs it. Every day I have parents thanking me and crying because they believe their child will now go to University...and these are parents whose children haven't finished high school yet! This is inspiring, and also a challenge at the same time...let's keep working on this program and make it bigger and bigger, so that everyone who needs a University Education here in Kabala will get it.
2) Love is the most universal, beautiful, and wonderful thing on Earth. The love I have experienced from my family and friends here has literally kept me alive when I have been exhausted and tired, and the love God always shows to me has given me the strength to keep working even when I feel like it's not making a difference. We can never change the world unless we start believing in the power of love.
3) Walk by Faith. I tatooed this on my foot in April, and I did not realize how incredibly important and essential it would be to my life. There has been days when I literally didn't know how I would get my work done, or what I would lead a bible study on, or how I would find the strength to do third year University in fall and fundraise over $8000 and work at the same time...but everytime I see this writing on my foot, I am reminded that faith is a staircase...you just have to take the next step. Honestly, God has brought me through everything, and will continue...this summer has taught me so much about my own faith, and has pushed me and encouraged me to not trust in my own strength.
So, thanks to all of you for reading, believing in this dream, and supporting it. I will see you in August back in Canada! God Bless
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