I’m writing this from Uganda where I am
spending a few days before going across to Rwanda to lead a team there.
With me are Ryan and Rosa, two CRED
supporters from UK who have come to spend a week doing some teaching in the
Acholi Quarters, and so part of my role whilst I am here the next couple of
days is to settle them in and make sure that everything is sorted for them for
their week.
As a result, today we popped in to the
Acholi Quarters on our way from airport to accommodation, so that Ryan and Rosa
could see who and where they will be teaching, and use that knowledge to
influence the final preparations this evening.
The last time I was at Acholi Quarters was
in early July, when I led a team of young people there to do a week of teaching
some of the children who don’t normally get to go to school.
I don’t manage to keep in touch with any of
these folks in between visits, mainly due to their lack of access to
international communication systems, and their lives are such a world away from
mine. We do spend time catching up when I’m at the project, and I do keep in
touch with project staff, but not the project beneficiaries.
And on these trips, I tend to be very much
in the background, sorting the logistics, and making sure that everything is in
place for the trip to run safely and smoothly. As a result it always amazes me
when I arrive at a project and am greeted like a long-lost friend.
But that’s what happened today when we
arrived. I was soon swamped by children who I recognized from the previous
trips, and being hugged by the ladies who I have spent time with in the past.
And then lots of chat enquiring about family, and past team members, and health
etc. A definite feeling of friends reunited.
Later, as we took a walk around the
community so Ryan and Rosa could get a feel for the place, I caught a beautiful
glimpse of true friendship – 3 of the Acholi lads: Innocent, Dan and one other,
all about 6 or 7 years old, were walking along, arms round each others shoulders,
chatting and laughing together. These lads don’t have a bean between them;
their clothes are very worn out, hanging by a thread, and I doubt they have any
play things above a few old bottle tops, or a plastic bag ball. But what they
do have is friendship of each other. And the beaming smiles on their dirty
little faces showed how important that friendship is to each of them.
That brief visit to the Acholi Quarters
today left me with a reminder and a personal challenge.
A reminder of the low cost but high value
of friendship, and a challenge as I consider how many excuses I subconsciously
come up with which mean I don’t give as much time to maintaining friendships as
I ought.
Life can be so busy, and weeks can suddenly
go by and I realise I haven’t made the effort to keep in touch, or catch up with
people. At the time, I’m sure all the different bits of being busy seemed
important, but the reality is that friendships are what really count in life,
not the number of tasks that have been ticked off the never-ending to-do list.
So, I apologise to all those of you who at
some time have felt snubbed by my busy-ness and lack of time for a coffee (or
chai in my case!). And thank you to Innocent, Dan, Harriet, Gloria, Catherine,
John and Sophie who today have reminded me about the beauty of true friendship –
may I show it just as much as I travel through life and the world.
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