The original speech that was to be given by Emma Parkinson on July 28, 2013. The actual given speech was slightly different.
My name is Emma Parkinson and I am
going to be a junior at Woodlands Academy this fall. My life is progressing
faster than I would like it to, and often times I feel like I am being left
behind. Yet 10 days in a different world can shift your perspective on things.
Reflecting on my time in Uganda us like trying
to pack a suitcase. There are so many things to think about and I get all
jumbled when I try to pick out what I want to tell people. So please forgive me
if this seems unorganized.
Not
all of the red dirt is out of my KidsUganda shirt. In fact, I hope that it
never comes out. If you’ve ever been to Uganda, you know how eerily beautiful
the country is. The colors are so vibrant and this red dust is everywhere. The
people are just as vibrant as the colors around them.
I do not think that there is any way to
prepare yourself before going to Uganda or any country like it for the poverty
that you will see. I was often taken by the remoteness and simplicity of many
of the square structures made of mud and trees. The children that we met at the
Maranatha schools were as happy as possible when we saw them each day, but I
could not help but wonder if they ever smiled at home, and that made me horribly
sad.
I wish I could
tell you about a more specific memory that I have from Uganda that affected me
more than all of the others. But, the truth is, I do not value any moment from
out trip more than another. There is nothing that I regret or that I wish did
not happen. Every single time we were able to talk and play with the children
was as amazing as the next, and I will never get tired of remembering their
smiling faces. Just like the KidsUganda phrase, “Every child is precious,” to
me, every memory of the children and everything we did with them is precious.
A lesson I learned
in Uganda is something that I have always had a hard time explaining.
Unconditional love. But what does that really mean? After thinking about it for
a very long time, I still cannot articulate what it means to me. I can only
explain it as what I feel after coming home from Uganda. It is when a children
comes up to you and grabs your hand like a lifeline, and says that they missed
you yesterday. It is 16 people, and our
bus driver, sitting on a bus singing anything and everything as loud as they
possibly can. It is the determination to brave a bumpy bus ride and see some
smiling faces even when you were violently ill not an hour before. The only way
to explain it is to say that unconditional love is what I feel for all of the
children and all of the people who came with me.
Everyday, I look
through some photos from our journey. I see how we became less tense around
each other, and how eager we became around the children. I see us talking to
people who we had never talked to before, and enjoying every second of our
crazy bus rides. I see children who are so incredibly grateful for our off-key
songs and sweaty hands. Everyday, I miss Uganda a little bit more. Just like
that red dirt still staining the collar of my KidsUganda shirt, those children
and their smiles, and my very own trip companions that I can now call friends,
will never leave my heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment