Thursday, January 26, 2012

pole pole

Ok so I will start out by saying that I wish I would have written this this afternoon because I think that it would have been better.  I did not do that however so I will just write it now and get over that fact.  Well today was a long one per usual but for how tired I was/am it was just a really encouraging and uplifting day in so many ways.  At Wellspring today we had a birthday celebration/leaving party for a girl who turns 18 tomorrow and while she did not complete the program, she did get a certificate of accomplishment but since she turns 18 she is no longer allowed to be in the program if she does not wish to sign herself back into dfacs custody.  All that is really beside the point but still.

So the girls in an impromptu performance all got up today and sang "How He Loves" and it was just a really sweet moment to see them doing that because honestly a lot of times they are a little crude and brash so it was a nice shift.  Don't worry though, they got right back to being outrageous in group an hour later!

So the thankful part...well there was this woman who volunteers with the girls (I had never seen her before) but the girls knew her and she was coming back from being in Africa and she had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with Operation Mobilization to raise money and awareness for Wellspring and the issue of trafficking.  Be still my heart!  I. MISS. AFRICA.  ::sigh:: Ok, so along with the girls I listened to her tell all about the week climb and how she had taken pebbles with all the girls initials on them and placed them at the Uhuru peak.  So many aspects of that that I just love.  The climb to the peak that is representative of the "climb" that the girls are on in this program and the fact that there will continue to be challenges and obstacles.  Additionally, they had this phrase that the porters kept saying to the team, "pole pole" which means slowly, so telling the women to take their time and to go slow.  Side note, it was interesting when I heard this the first time because in swahili 'pole' means sorry so when I heard it used in this context I was a bit confused and actually still am but that is not the point of the story.  I love how it is also representative of the girls taking their time as well as God taking his 'time' to work in the girls lives and sometimes that takes a lifetime.  The girls were beside themselves about having their pebbles on the top of a mountain in Africa and the implications that has that this woman who is about 60 climbed up this mountain (which is not an easy task at all) for the purpose of raising awareness about this cause and to keep a promise made to the girls to place their pebbles at the peak.  So very much to love about that.  It makes my heart so happy to see people doing things like this to raise awareness and money for a cause that is so near to my heart.  It makes my heart happy to literally see God working in this program and in each of these girls lives, and how he is fighting for them over and over.  It makes my heart happy when people go to Africa and experience the good, the bad, and the better.  I love when my heart is happy and when it literally aches for things like this and I feel it in my chest.  It makes me feel alive and that is what I am thankful for.  All of the above.

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