Goodbyes and Grace

(Submitted by Abigail McConnell.)

As the days pass here at Tumaini, we feel a growing sadness about the thought of saying goodbye to kids we've spent the last week with.  We've gone from exchanging shy smiles to sharing tight hugs, deep laughter, long talks.  Our time with the children here is less about a Program, and more about doing life together for a little while.  The day usually begins with a misty sunrise walk to school -- a 'date' sometimes arranged the night before in the study room -- and which often includes them walking us back to the gate again, just for a few more moments of talking.  Primary kids come home earlier in the afternoon, around 3:30 or 4.  Secondary kids go until 5:20.  Then there are chores, followed by their supper.  Late nights are spent in two large study rooms until 9 or 10, where we join in to help with math, or writing, or just some one-on-one time. 

As the days pass here, we've seen the Holy Spirit knit together special bonds.  Each one of us seems to have heart-connected with at least one child, many with more than that. Letters are starting to be exchanged (on what little paper the children have available to them).  And again and again, we're asked, when are you leaving?  Do you have to?

Many of you know that I have had a friendship with a girl here named Grace for a long time.  I first met her in 2008, during our very first visit to Tumaini.  This is now our third time here, and I've gotten to watch Grace grow from a sad 14-year-old to a wise young woman of God.  In fact, she is the one who delivered the sermon at Friday Night Fellowship that Mark wrote about in the last blog.  

On Thursday, after being here less than two days, children had already begun asking about when we have to leave.  "In five days? So soon?  Why not stay five weeks?  Or for a few months!" they said.  So later that night, as I sat in the dorm stairwell with Grace, I asked her, "Grace, do you really think it's good for us to come?  Is it worth us being here, if the thought of our leaving again makes everyone sad?"  This is what she told me: "Yes, we are sad to see you go.  But what we have learned is that God is faithful, and that He does not forget about us.  We know that sometimes God comes to us in the form of people.  We know it is actually God Himself who has come to us through you."  

So today is two things. 

One, it's our last day at Tumaini. Just after we walk the kids to school very early tomorrow morning, we'll say goodbye, and we'll pack up our vans, and we'll leave this home.

 And two, it's Grace's birthday.  She has had 6 birthdays here in Tumaini, and, because she is in Form 4 (a senior), it will be her last.  I don't know what she'll do next -- she hopes to be a lawyer, or a child advocate or an evangelist, if her grades allow.  But what I do know is that God is faithful, that He will not forget about her.  And that He will continue to come to other people in the form of Grace.