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Let me tell you
about 14 little kids who had their lives radically changed when the
experience and joy of Christmas came to town. Just outside the city
of Rangoon, which is the capital of Burma (next to Thailand), sits a
two story house just on the edge of a dirt road. There is a small
wood bridge that crosses the ditch that's filled with brown nasty
water. I wasn't exactly sure where I was heading but I knew that I
had to cross that bridge and walk into a house that didn't look very
inviting. I forged ahead but didn't know that I was about to
change someone's life forever.
First Impressions
Our team was
carrying good news and bundle's of joy. When I walked into the
house, I saw a large open room with a cement floor. The room was
somewhat dark except for the cracks of sunlight peaking through the
wood panels of the windows. In the back there was a kitchen area, I
didn't realize it at first but that's what it was after a brief tour
around the room. I saw a stairway and heard a rumbling sound coming
from the 2nd floor and then all of a sudden I see 14 kids come
racing down the stairs and scream by me.... I wasn't sure why all
the excitement but knew that these must be the kids that my sister
was telling me all about. Well, they seemed just like normal kids,
full of energy and ready to conquer the world.
Where Do I Sit?
I quickly met all
the other adult's in the room and we were told that it was time to
eat. Oh boy, yes.. that seemed like a really great idea... seeing
how we had drove through the dust, dirt and heat, yes, I was
hungry. I looked around and didn't see any tables, hmmm, "Where are
we going to eat?" I said to myself. I quickly learned that you
don't need tables. Heck the floor is good enough. Sure, gee, I'll
sit right here. Just grab a piece of cement and sit down. That was
easy.
Dinner is Served
There were these
trays or something that held the food; they were about 8 inches high
(maybe that was the table). So I was sitting there ready to eat and
out came the first round of meat. I looked at it, studied it, and
then decided that maybe it wasn't my first choice in food but I
would try it. Well, only one bite was good enough for me, I was
going to wait for the second dish. There were many "things on the
table" and I'm sorry, I just don't know how to describe what was
prepared before me. Well, needless to say, I wasn't at Cheese Cake
Factory and I was going to have to face the facts and eat the
stuff. Well, enough of the food story, back to joy and jingles... I
was happy to wind down the lunch and move on to the next activity.
Oh, by the way, this is a true story.
The Gifts
Our team, there was 7 of us, had brought
bundles of good tidings all the way from the States. Just packing
our suitcases and getting through customs is a whole other story...
maybe next month. We had each brought a marker, a backpack, socks
and new tennis shoes for each child. We also gave them a bottle of
Dinomins vitamins by
Herbalife
to make them healthy.
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