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FLIES ON A WALL WRITTEN BY ANN SMITH
Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall and observe a situation from a first-hand perspective? I have, many times. As a relational being, I am prone to want to know the inside scoop on others people's interactions both good and bad. No wonder reality shows are such a hit -- for a moment, we get to be that fly on the wall for all of the gossip, tender moments, and the juicy details.
Last month, Rick and I had the unusual opportunity to be just that -- flies on the wall. Some dear friends, who are sponsors of an Oasis child named Penny, visited. We set up an opportunity for them to meet the Kenyan guardian of their child. This is the person who their child will return to as a full-grown, mature adult. It was truly one of the most precious moments in our lives, and we will never forget it.
 
After a lunch of potatoes and cabbage, we drove to a home within the nearby community. As we drove, we absorbed the beauty surrounding us. The area of Kenya where we live looks like a cross between Iowa cornfields ripe with produce and the tropics. The tall and straight Dr. Seuss- like eucalyptus trees dot the land, which is also interspersed with the groves of wide-leafed banana trees heavy-laden with fruit. We traveled by car around several mountains and through several valleys before arriving at a quaint mud hut surrounded by a rustic wooden gate with a vibrant red bougainvillea shading the right side of the home. Picturesque....
As we ducked through the fence, we were welcomed by several Maasai women decorated in their kangas, faded from drying in the sun. There were several young women, a few older women and, of course, a host of children. Among these women was the grandmother to Penny, her guardian. They invited us in to the hut, clean and freshly layered with new mud for this special occasion. We all sat, ate, and drank chai, and then began introductions. First Rick and I were introduced, and then our friends. It was then that we faded into the background and time seemed to slow. Pastor John, who was making the introductions, said four words that began the magic, "These are Penny's sponsors." And the look on the grandmother's face changed instantly from gracious hostess to that of a mother's towards someone who had just pulled her drowning child from a river. Tears began to flow down her face and she leaped from her chair with arms raised in gratitude and crossed the room to them with an inviting embrace. Her  words flowed like a stream of endless thanksgiving rushing towards them and surrounding the room with joy. "Ashe (ah - shay), ashe, ashe." "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She cradled the faces of our friends with her aged hands as the words continued to spill. And then the story came. The painful story of losing a son-in-law while her daughter carried Penny. Then deeper tragedy, as the daughter died while Penny was just three months old. This grandmother, herself widowed, bringing both Penny and her sister to her humble home to live among her own children. Her failed attempts to nurse the baby... Already struggling to feed her own family, and now two more needy mouths to fill. Remembering the tears that flowed each time she held her daughter's child... The longing for things to be right again... And then the day that Pastor Joseph came to announce that both Penny and her sister were welcomed into the Children's Home. Deep, deep gratitude and thanks resounded over and over again from the lips of this woman as she now had a face to attach to the rescuer of her beloved grandchildren, "Ashe, ashe, ashe..." And hearts were knit together as the common love for a precious orphan child brought two sides of the world together in a physical embrace.
Thank you to all of the donors and sponsors who love these children and make it possible for these two worlds to come together in order to give hope to a child.
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