God Chose Us

Yesterday I went on my first orphan visit. I had been once before with Elizabeth to assess a child's living situation, but we knew we weren't going to take the child. This was different because we knew that, according to what we had heard, we probably would take the child. Personally, I'm an administrative, behind-the-scenes type of person, so I prefer to stay home and get things ready for the new child to come. But Blu really encouraged me to go and see what the process is like. We picked up a lady at 9am named Mercy. She was friends with the family and they had notified her that they had a 5 year old double orphan (both parents deceased). To her credit, she did warn us ahead of time that the village was "a bit far." We didn't realize she meant 90 minutes into the bush far! When we finally got there (with many prayers that we would not run out of diesel!), I scanned the children at the village. There were about 12 kids running around, but most of them looked too old. Finally I saw a little boy walk up slowly, with holes covering his shorts. I immediately knew that was him.

His name is Mweene (pronounced Mway-nay). He turned 5 in February. His parents both died when he was very young, and he had been living with his father's mother. However, about a month ago she had called the maternal side of the family and asked them to come and get him, saying she couldn't care for him anymore. So it was only a month ago that Mweene had been moved to this village. We could tell by observing him that he really wasn't apart of the other children there. He stayed to himself, and when Blu approached him to say hi, his little chest heaved up and down. Then tears just poured down his face! They said we were the first white people he had seen, and in Zambia parents often tell their kids to "Be good or the white man will get you!" (Kinda like the boogeyman!) After eating lunch with the family and getting all of the details, Mweene said goodbye to his family and came with us. Thankfully, his caregiver (great-aunt) decided to come with us part of the way. We then took him to the clinic for medical testing. Receiving a good bill of health, we left his great-aunt and proceeded to New Day. If we tried to speak to him at all, tears just rolled down his face - he didn't say one word in the 6 hours we were with him!

When we got to New Day, our welcome crew was ready and waiting, and it was just too much for Mweene. The tears started silently flowing, and soon he was having a full-fledged meltdown. The other children weren't sure what to do, and our poor compassionate Cambree was devastated for him!

I can't begin to imagine what he is thinking. After the death of his mother, going to live with a grandparent, being moved to a new village with relatives he doesn't know, and then whiet people coming to take him to a new place again, I think it's safe to say that Mweene's life has not been easy. But we can see a little ways down the road and know that Mweene is going to be ok. He showed some interest in his new soccer shirt and his new flip flops. In a few days, we will see his smile. In a few months, he will look nothing like the boy that arrived at New Day yesterday. Mweene lost his family. He was living in a village that he wasn't apart of. How blessed we are that GOD CHOSE US to be Mweene's family. I can't wait to see what this little boy is going to grow up to be.