This is why I had to walk home….

(As opposed to taking the taxi)

There’s one spot on my walk home that I’m growing to love more and more: a place where perhaps twenty children are within earshot. Every time I pass these days, one of them will notice me and start to excitedly exclaim, “White person! White person!” Others will hear and swarm out of surrounding buildings and alleys, pressing about me, grabbing at my hands, scratching at my freckles, pulling at my hair. I love it, and am carried along with them, laughing and feeling like the Pied Piper of Hamelin in the very best way.

One of the boys has started to pay me short visits at my worksite. This past Friday, he stopped by with some of his friends, and informed me that his mother had given birth last week: would I come and see the baby?

Would I?! The very next day I left work early – it being Saturday, after all – and was met at the usual spot by all the children. As they swept me along, off the main road into the mass of hovels behind the shops, I had to mentally pinch myself: “I’m really in Africa, surrounded by children who are inviting me into one of their homes to visit a six-day-old baby!”

The mother handed the child to me as soon as I entered the room; and the whole time I congratulated her and admired her new little one, children crowded around the doorway and at the dim window, calling from time to time for my attention, which I always gave them. Do you realize that I was probably the first Christian to see the baby and pray over him in Jesus’ Name? What an awesome privilege!

Right now I’m planning to give out candy and Christian literature to the children of this neighborhood for Christmas. Please pray that God will open hearts and lives to His good news, and that I’ll remain sensitive to areas of potential ministry that He’s opening up to me.

Note: an older brother showed me the pencil that was used to darken the baby’s eyes; and the head and arms were dusted with flour. I was told these were for “protection,” but couldn’t tell you whether said protection is physical or spiritual or both.