A loving touch

Well yesterday was my first full day at Smile Africa. I was there from 9am-4ishpm. It was a very long day, hard day, but fulfilling day. As usual I was with Bogere every second of the day, I cant leave him alone yet. Since Bogere can't leave my side, he is learning how to serve other's first. When the teacher rings the bell at noon all the young kids come sit down under a big shed type cover and the older kids come a serve them a plate of food. I grabbed a few plates and started passing them out to the young children. Bogere did not move, he just stood there and watched me as I passed out food to all these children. I then picked up a plate and handed it to Bogere and pointed to a little boy waiting to get his plate. Bogere looked at me and was confused as to why he could not eat this, he did not want to give it to this little boy, Bogere wanted to eat it. But than he looked down at the little boy and placed the plate in front of him and looked back at me and smiled. He wanted me to be proud of him for helping the little boy. I want Bogere to have an "other's first" mindset, so whenever he helps someone first, I make a huge deal about it! I high fived him and said "Muzuri Bogere!!" Muzuri means good, when addressing an action or behavior. He felt so proud of himself, and I was so proud of my boy. Once all the babies had food I said, "Kukaa chini." This means sit down. And Bogere got his plate of food. Although we have a long way to go, each day will get better and better.
I also met Bogere's mother. That was very difficult. For those of you who don't know about Bogere, let me tell you his quick background. Bogere is about 5 years old, he has been sexual abused by people in his community. As a five year old he watches the grown men come home drunk and rape the girls in his village. His 5 year old eyes watch this happen and he is not told that it is wrong. So the staff at Smile Africa had no choice but to remove Bogere from the program after catching him try and rape a few of the girls, including his little sister Gloria. This broke my heart and really bothered me, so now I am back to do the best I can to restore Bogere back to mental, emotional, and spiritual health. I am no expert, I just love him so much. Every time that I hug him or kiss him or carry him or give him a healthy touch I say "Nakupenda wewe." Which means I love you. I want him to relate my healthy touches to love. That being said, you can imagine how hard it was to see Bogere's mom and wonder how she could let herself get so drunk to not care about her son. But I shook her hand and told her how beautiful she was. I told her how much she meant to me and how much her son meant to me. This was very hard to do. Bogere is my son...well for 4 months anyway, I wont even let one mosquito bite him while I'm there, let alone let some grown man hurt him. It's devastating.

I love this boy so much, I am giving him everything that I have to ensure that when I go home, he is healthy enough to stay at Smile Africa. I know that God can do all things, and He has not forgotten Bogere. He sent me from the other side of the world to love him, so I know that God will heal him! Please pray for that with me. Bogere is going to change his country for Jesus, just watch him.