Your Investment Will Change Lives

Sarah Joy, one year volunteer at Challenging Heights

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Sarah Joy:

A teenage boy wants to know if you are going to church.  “I want to go with you.  I have not been to church in a long time.”

Get sick.  Grandmother Mary takes down all your laundry and delivers it to your door because “the rain is coming.”

The drain in the outdoor shower is clogged so you have to use a broom to sweep out all the water.  The girls are incensed and forcibly remove the broom from your hand.  “Madam Sarah, no!  You have to let us do!”  “You should not be doing.  Any time that you bath, leave it for us.”  “We are not just at Challenging Heights for learning – we are here for training.”

Walk home from market with a backpack and a heavy bag.  A total stranger on his way with some friends to a party stops you to take the bag from you and “escort you small” even though it is out of his way.

Stand at roadside in a tiny village waiting, waiting for a taxi to come by.  A guy you have a passing acquaintance with stops and waits with you – “I have to make sure you get taxi” – even though he is on his way somewhere else.  Then he turns to you and says, “Can I offer you a chair?”

You come home after a long day of tro-tro rides, working with kids, and walking long distances.  The Artist greets you with, “Sarah, you are looking so beautiful!”

Watching X-Men with the kids when the rain comes.  Ema jumps up and dashes outside (and doesn’t even ask you to pause the movie and wait for him).  About 3 minutes later, you remember that you have laundry hanging outside and jump up and dash out, too – only to find that he took down all your laundry for you and put it in his room before it got wet.

You wear a new dress.  Multiple boys a) recognize that it is a new piece of clothing and b) compliment you on it.

You walk to market and back on a rainy day with three of the girls and get mud all over yourself.  Mary (The Nurse) takes your handkerchief and stands at the side of the road cleaning you off.  “I am going to keep it so I can wash it when we get back.  Then I will give it to you.”  “Mary, no!  It’s my handkerchief and I’m the one who got dirty.  I can do.”  “Madam Sarah.  Who used the handkerchief?”  “You did, but – “  “That’s right.  So I have to wash it well for you.”  And she does.

Get sick.  Ema comes to check on you.  “What did you eat?”  Just fruit.  “It is okay?  If it is not okay, I will make for you any food that your stomach wants.”

You have three pots (that the kids often borrow).  King George scratches the this thing – your name – on the each of them so they will be “very nice and they will not get missing.”

You buy the ingredients.  The kids cook the food, serve the food, wash the dishes, sweep your floor, fetch buckets of water, and then thank you.