I would like to think that for most of my life I have been grateful for everything that has been given too me, specifically the medical treatment that I have received over the years. I was born cleft lip/cleft pallet as many of you know and have had to go through many surgeries and all the other work that comes along with it. I was born with a very severe bilateral cleft lip, and nearly no pallet what so ever. 40 surgeries later and without looking close many people don’t notice it anymore. I was lucky; within a few hours there was a team of doctors ready to start operating on me as soon as they could. I always knew that I had an outstanding team of doctors, I knew many people with clefts that were not nearly as severe as mine and their work unfortunately had not been done so well. It wasn’t until I came here that I fully understood and realized just how lucky I was. Sure I knew that there were children who didn’t get the surgeries needed to help fix the defect, hence the reason Operation Smile was developed. My doctors even spent two months a year in South America performing operations for children. Pictures can’t even capture what it is really like to not have the necessary work done to fix the lip and/or cleft. If one is honest most of the pictures shown are of young children, no older than eight most of the time and don’t capture the full extent of the issues it later presents in life. Needless to say since I have been here I have really been able to witness what it is not to have the work done. I have seen numerous people, none of which are children who have clefts that have been left un-operated on since birth some of the clefts being minimal and others being severe. There are a few memorable encounters that I would like to share:
Rwanda: Up until this point in our trip I had only seen a few untreated clefts. Here we are on our ‘vacation’ of sorts and we are walking through the taxi park looking for a taxi that can take us to the genocide memorial. As we are wondering through, before an English speaking man finally helps us, none of us spoke French; I glanced over and noticed a man. It was something I was taken aback by, one of the most severe unilateral clefts I have ever seen. Generally speaking unilateral clefts are not too serious, but there are the cases of very severe unilateral clefts and here I was witnessing with my eyes one that was untreated. It was difficult for me to tell the age of the man, but I would say he was no older than 24. His teeth had grown out, past where that portion of his lip should have been, the farther back the teeth were the closer they were to the portion of the existing lip. Some of his teeth were behind the lip, but very few. I was brought nearly to tears; I can’t imagine what it would be like to have had my cleft go untreated. I used to be very self-conscious about my lip, covering it whenever possible with my hand or a piece of paper in class. Over the years I over came that and forget that was ever an issue. Seeing him made me force myself to think about how I would feel if I had to go about my life without my lip, either part of it or my entire lip, and it was not at all a good feeling. I would think that it is something that he has probably grown used to, though I am not really able to say for sure, but it still must be hard. His teeth where in a way that I know makes it very difficult to eat and drink, our lips are there for a reason. My heart broke, knowing that I received at the time the best care possible, lucky to be born where I was, I had the best team of cleft doctors in the country at the time, and seeing a man that had received absolutely no medical care at all for his cleft.
Kampala: My first real day in Uganda. I am with Chris and Kevin walking through the taxi park looking for a taxi to go to the embassy. I was already overwhelmed with it all, Kampala is a city that I am used to however, and Kampala is like no city I have ever been too. As we walk through the park and I am looking around at everything just trying to take it all in I notice a woman. She has a baby on her back and a bag full of something atop her head and she had an untreated cleft. Not as severe as the man described from Rwanda but noticeable. Since it was my first day in Uganda there I was much more prone to having an emotional reaction, but this I was not expecting. Kevin and Chris did not notice, and I didn’t mention it but I found myself crying. Even though I was able to get a brief look at the woman you could see she was tired. All I could think to myself was, here is this woman that is carrying a baby on her back with a bag on top of her head and an untreated cleft. Knowing that the procedures for a cleft like that are minimal, many times only requiring two or three operations I couldn’t help but be upset. I kept thinking that at that very moment in time she might have been living the same life, but had she had the operations would it have made anything easier or better for her? I had to think to myself if anything it might have given her more self-confidence or something of the sorts, but I can’t be the judge of something like that. I do however know one thing and that is, even without the operations that could have potentially saved her much pain and heartache I hopes she knows and believes that she is beautiful; at least she was in my eyes.
Gulu: So our office is right across from the Lacor Hospital, we see all sorts of people with problems walking in there. However this moment didn’t occur at the hospital, or even walking by a clinic it happened while I was riding home from the office on my boda. On the way to where we are staying we pass many schools, and many roads that lead to schools, we see a lot of kids going to and from school on a regular basis. I was coming up to Gulu College and saw a group of boys walking away from the school on their way home. As like most people, they waved at me and I waved back and looked at them. A certain boy in the group grabbed my attention; he too had an untreated cleft. I would say this boy was not older than 18 at the oldest, nearly my age. I thought to myself, when I was 18 and had an untreated cleft would I have been comfortable? The true answer is absolutely not. Again, I would think he has become used to it, just something that is part of him, but I knew it didn’t have to be. I knew that had he been born in a different place, or at a different time he would have been walking with a treated cleft.
It has been very difficult for me to see an untreated cleft, when I received amazing treatment. It is even more difficult for me to know that I received this treatment mainly because I was born in the right place at the right time. I know that it more than likely has become just part of these people, their untreated clefts but that doesn’t change my thoughts about what might be different for them. I am unbelievably grateful for the privilege I had in receiving such amazing care, I hope one day everyone can have that care.
I hope this find everyone in good health and with happy hearts wherever you are. Remember things might seem like a set back but many times they are hidden blessings and I am seeing that more and more especially regarding my cleft.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Pajule
So many things have happened since I last was able to update. So I am choosing to blog about the last two weeks in a couple different blogs this one in particular about Pajule.
So Diana and I went to Pajule where Maria is staying. Maria is part of our sister organization at the University of Illinois and they have an education program in Pajule that she is working with. Now just getting to Pajule was a task, one that should not surprise anyone who knows my luck with traveling. Diana and I rose early in the morning on Thursday July 3rd, planning to get to the bus park by 8 in the morning so that we could get the first ride to Pajule and get there by noon or so, it is only a two hour ride or so. So right on time we arrive at the bus park, and a man by the name of John Bosco helps us find a vehicle that will be heading to Pajule. So it seems as if everything is going in our favor until we realize no one else is in our taxi, but we don’t think too much of it and decide to pass the time by playing cards. Well this may or may not have been the best idea on our part because we drew a crowd, a big one. Now, this card game did not pass time for an hour or two hours or even three hours, we played cards for nearly six hours till it was finally time for us to leave the bus park, needless to say we didn’t make it to Pajule by noon. Our taxi had difficulty getting out of the bus park, it kept stalling but we finally got out and Diana and I silently rejoiced thinking that we were finally on our way to Pajule. The ride was going fine, until suddenly 15 kilometers outside of Gulu our taxi stops….in the middle of nowhere. Now this is not by any means an exaggeration, we were really in the middle of nowhere, the spear grass was taller than I was, the sun was beating down and there was one tree to offer shade which we would later find had a bee hive in it. So we pile out of the taxi and they try to restart it, failing to do so countless times. So what do we do? We pass the time with cards again, this time drawing less of a crowd, I don’t think I have ever been so happy to have a deck of cards in arms reach as I was that day. Nearly three hours later Diana and I decide we should start walking back to Gulu, we will catch a bodaboda on the way somewhere and try the adventure out again tomorrow. We walk up to the taxi driver who is already surrounded by a group of people requesting exactly what we were asking for; some of our money back. He refuses. So what do people do? That start to grab the mans arms and undo his belt and start to undo his jeans, Diana and I are in utter shock and want absolutely nothing to do with this situation and decide that our money is not worth it and we will just leave without it. Just as we are about to leave a Land Rover pulls up next to us with two men from New Zealand in it and an Acholi man driving with a lady and her baby in the back seat. They kindly offer us a ride and even ride in the back so that we could be in seats. They drop us off at the fork in the road and inform us that we can catch bodabodas from this point to Pajule. After a 15-minute search we finally get two drivers and we are on our way. I would just like everyone to know that was by far the scariest ride of my entire life, the road was very bumpy, we were going over 100 kilometers an hour and I had so much stuff I was always having to readjust myself. However, we did make it to Pajule in one piece, barely but in one piece. We were greeted by Maria who had waited all day on the road for us…I failed to mention that about the time our taxi died so did our phone…..
Pajule itself was an amazing experience. Sleeping in a hut, spending time with the family that Maria has spent her entire time here in Uganda with was great. The time spent there was primarily filled with celebrations and goodbye ceremonies but it was a blast! We were able to attend mass, a daily occurrence for Maria in Pajule. It was so neat being at a mass that is completely in Luo but I was still able to follow it just by watching the priest. The music at the church was beautiful, I could have listened to it all day long and not tired of it, they used traditional instruments and the music echoed off of the walls in the church so beautifully, it was music like I had never heard it before. The second mass that we attended while in Pajule required us to go up in front of the congregation and say a few words, this was neither the first nor the last time we would be asked to say something. The day we arrived in Pajule was the 4th of July, and well we celebrated in a way that I had never imagined I would celebrate. First off the big celebration was just making it to Pajule itself, which was enough a reason for me to celebrate as anything else. What was so wonderful about this 4th of July was the fact that we just sat outside and looked at the most gorgeous nighttime sky you have ever seen and just relaxed. We had a beer in our hands, A Nile for Diana, a Club for Maria and a Bell for me and it was wonderful. We were able to talk and relax.
The kids in Pajule are great! They are so much fun, like all kids. The older kids that are in Maria’s organization put on this amazing drama presentation for us and they did a superb job. The kids also sang songs to Maria and then Diana and I had our names thrown in the songs at random times…at one point in time I was Madisson the humble one and Diana was the gentle one. I still have some of the songs in my head, because well after the actual celebration ended there were still children around and just kept singing and singing, it was so much fun. I met a special little boy while I was in Pajule, Kamacech which means unlucky. I met him at the parish before mass and found out he was deaf and mute which of course immediately sparked my interest in him. As I learned more and more about him the more and more he had a place in my heart. He took a liking to me as well, leaving the parish after mass one morning holding my hand walking with me all the way back to our hut. He stayed for the evening for the celebration. There were so many other kids that I got to know, Linda being one. She is such a smart girl and wants to be a teacher, she looked after Kamacech while he was at the huts which put my mind at ease; I had found him earlier that day being beat with a stick by some other children so knowing she was looking after him relieved me, I hate to see anybody being beat up.
I have never seen so much food on one table in my entire life. On our second evening in Pajule there was a heap of rice on a tray as big as a big Thanksgiving day turkey. Speaking of birds with feathers, Diana and I were given the gift of a chicken later on that evening. Yes folks you read it, we were given a live chicken as a gift, I held a live chicken upside down by the legs as a gift. We would later find this chicken along with Maria’s chicken that she was gifted on our hut unexpectedly the next morning, a very unique way to wake up in the morning.
Pajule and the people that live there touched my heart in a very special way. I had so much fun just singing and playing with the kids, especially dancing. At one of the ceremonies the guardians of the program kids danced and invited us to dance with them and I don’t think I have had so much fun in my entire life dancing. I would love to come back to Pajule and spend an extended amount of time there and really get to know these amazing people that welcomed and accepted me in such a welcoming manner. The love that those people had for Maria was absolutely incredible, she really was a member of their family and that was a beautiful thing to see. Come to find out Diana and I are also a member of the family, BaBa (the father) told us we too were his children, but he does this to all visitors, but it is still a wonderful thought.
I hope that this blog find everyone happy and healthy. More importantly I hope it finds you with a smile on your face and love in your heart that you are sharing with those around you, even total strangers. I know this blog may seem a bit scattered but I couldn’t really talk about everything concerning Pajule so I just picked different chunks of the experience to put up on my blog.
So Diana and I went to Pajule where Maria is staying. Maria is part of our sister organization at the University of Illinois and they have an education program in Pajule that she is working with. Now just getting to Pajule was a task, one that should not surprise anyone who knows my luck with traveling. Diana and I rose early in the morning on Thursday July 3rd, planning to get to the bus park by 8 in the morning so that we could get the first ride to Pajule and get there by noon or so, it is only a two hour ride or so. So right on time we arrive at the bus park, and a man by the name of John Bosco helps us find a vehicle that will be heading to Pajule. So it seems as if everything is going in our favor until we realize no one else is in our taxi, but we don’t think too much of it and decide to pass the time by playing cards. Well this may or may not have been the best idea on our part because we drew a crowd, a big one. Now, this card game did not pass time for an hour or two hours or even three hours, we played cards for nearly six hours till it was finally time for us to leave the bus park, needless to say we didn’t make it to Pajule by noon. Our taxi had difficulty getting out of the bus park, it kept stalling but we finally got out and Diana and I silently rejoiced thinking that we were finally on our way to Pajule. The ride was going fine, until suddenly 15 kilometers outside of Gulu our taxi stops….in the middle of nowhere. Now this is not by any means an exaggeration, we were really in the middle of nowhere, the spear grass was taller than I was, the sun was beating down and there was one tree to offer shade which we would later find had a bee hive in it. So we pile out of the taxi and they try to restart it, failing to do so countless times. So what do we do? We pass the time with cards again, this time drawing less of a crowd, I don’t think I have ever been so happy to have a deck of cards in arms reach as I was that day. Nearly three hours later Diana and I decide we should start walking back to Gulu, we will catch a bodaboda on the way somewhere and try the adventure out again tomorrow. We walk up to the taxi driver who is already surrounded by a group of people requesting exactly what we were asking for; some of our money back. He refuses. So what do people do? That start to grab the mans arms and undo his belt and start to undo his jeans, Diana and I are in utter shock and want absolutely nothing to do with this situation and decide that our money is not worth it and we will just leave without it. Just as we are about to leave a Land Rover pulls up next to us with two men from New Zealand in it and an Acholi man driving with a lady and her baby in the back seat. They kindly offer us a ride and even ride in the back so that we could be in seats. They drop us off at the fork in the road and inform us that we can catch bodabodas from this point to Pajule. After a 15-minute search we finally get two drivers and we are on our way. I would just like everyone to know that was by far the scariest ride of my entire life, the road was very bumpy, we were going over 100 kilometers an hour and I had so much stuff I was always having to readjust myself. However, we did make it to Pajule in one piece, barely but in one piece. We were greeted by Maria who had waited all day on the road for us…I failed to mention that about the time our taxi died so did our phone…..
Pajule itself was an amazing experience. Sleeping in a hut, spending time with the family that Maria has spent her entire time here in Uganda with was great. The time spent there was primarily filled with celebrations and goodbye ceremonies but it was a blast! We were able to attend mass, a daily occurrence for Maria in Pajule. It was so neat being at a mass that is completely in Luo but I was still able to follow it just by watching the priest. The music at the church was beautiful, I could have listened to it all day long and not tired of it, they used traditional instruments and the music echoed off of the walls in the church so beautifully, it was music like I had never heard it before. The second mass that we attended while in Pajule required us to go up in front of the congregation and say a few words, this was neither the first nor the last time we would be asked to say something. The day we arrived in Pajule was the 4th of July, and well we celebrated in a way that I had never imagined I would celebrate. First off the big celebration was just making it to Pajule itself, which was enough a reason for me to celebrate as anything else. What was so wonderful about this 4th of July was the fact that we just sat outside and looked at the most gorgeous nighttime sky you have ever seen and just relaxed. We had a beer in our hands, A Nile for Diana, a Club for Maria and a Bell for me and it was wonderful. We were able to talk and relax.
The kids in Pajule are great! They are so much fun, like all kids. The older kids that are in Maria’s organization put on this amazing drama presentation for us and they did a superb job. The kids also sang songs to Maria and then Diana and I had our names thrown in the songs at random times…at one point in time I was Madisson the humble one and Diana was the gentle one. I still have some of the songs in my head, because well after the actual celebration ended there were still children around and just kept singing and singing, it was so much fun. I met a special little boy while I was in Pajule, Kamacech which means unlucky. I met him at the parish before mass and found out he was deaf and mute which of course immediately sparked my interest in him. As I learned more and more about him the more and more he had a place in my heart. He took a liking to me as well, leaving the parish after mass one morning holding my hand walking with me all the way back to our hut. He stayed for the evening for the celebration. There were so many other kids that I got to know, Linda being one. She is such a smart girl and wants to be a teacher, she looked after Kamacech while he was at the huts which put my mind at ease; I had found him earlier that day being beat with a stick by some other children so knowing she was looking after him relieved me, I hate to see anybody being beat up.
I have never seen so much food on one table in my entire life. On our second evening in Pajule there was a heap of rice on a tray as big as a big Thanksgiving day turkey. Speaking of birds with feathers, Diana and I were given the gift of a chicken later on that evening. Yes folks you read it, we were given a live chicken as a gift, I held a live chicken upside down by the legs as a gift. We would later find this chicken along with Maria’s chicken that she was gifted on our hut unexpectedly the next morning, a very unique way to wake up in the morning.
Pajule and the people that live there touched my heart in a very special way. I had so much fun just singing and playing with the kids, especially dancing. At one of the ceremonies the guardians of the program kids danced and invited us to dance with them and I don’t think I have had so much fun in my entire life dancing. I would love to come back to Pajule and spend an extended amount of time there and really get to know these amazing people that welcomed and accepted me in such a welcoming manner. The love that those people had for Maria was absolutely incredible, she really was a member of their family and that was a beautiful thing to see. Come to find out Diana and I are also a member of the family, BaBa (the father) told us we too were his children, but he does this to all visitors, but it is still a wonderful thought.
I hope that this blog find everyone happy and healthy. More importantly I hope it finds you with a smile on your face and love in your heart that you are sharing with those around you, even total strangers. I know this blog may seem a bit scattered but I couldn’t really talk about everything concerning Pajule so I just picked different chunks of the experience to put up on my blog.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Back from Rwanda
Hey just wanted everyone to know that I am back from Rwanda and will put a full update up in the next few days.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Life is beauty, and beauty is life
As my first month here in Uganda is winding down and my time left here in Uganda is becoming less and less there is a lot that I have been thinking about.
Coming here was a long road, one that was well worth it. I could not be more thrilled to be anywhere else on earth at this point in my life. I am at a time where the experiences I am having are going to shape the rest of my life, rather than waiting too long to try and experience things where my life interferes and shapes what it is I am experiences. This has been by far the greatest life altering experience thus far in my life. I can’t look at a school the same way, or a child, or a mother just doing whatever she has to do to put food on the table. I can’t ever look at a car, or a road, or a telephone the same, my outlook on life has completely been revamped in such a good way. I have only been here four weeks now, and I have six left but I could not be more pleased with what has occurred personally to my during my time here thus far.
I was on my boda-boda the other day on my way to work talking with my driver and suddenly there was a long pause of silence. My boda driver who I later found out his name to be Jeffery asked me, “Why are you here? There is danger looming? Don’t you fear being here?” I had never really stopped to think about it honestly. As I was sitting there with the wind in my hair looking up at the purest blue sky I have ever seen I realized, what do I have to fear? So I answered back, “I don’t know why I don’t fear anything bad happening while I am here. I guess it is because you are driving me to work, laughing, smiling and talking with me. How can I fear when you and all the other people I come into contact are smiling and laughing and living life. Once you stop smiling and laughing, and loving life is when I will become fearful.” He laughed and told me that he hopes he never has to stop smiling and laughing, he is just happy to be alive and because of that fact and that fact alone he must smile. As I continued talking with Jeffery he told me he was 19, my age, and all he wanted to do was go to school and become an electrical technician. My heart sunk, here is a guy who is my age who has seen and experienced things I can’t imagine and all he wants to do is go to school. I have always held my education highly on my priority list, actually it has always been at the top of my list. I know and realize how lucky I am to have received and continue to receive such a great education, however, it made me appreciate all over again just how lucky I am.
Whilst being here I have gained a new love for life. I have a renewed profound appreciation for everyday that I get to wake up. My entire outlook on life has changed, what once seemed important I am realizing is not, and what seemed trivial has gained such a great importance to me. I have done more here than I ever thought I would ever do at this point in my life, or in my life in general. I mean, I killed a chicken, never would I have thought I would do such a thing, but I did it. I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, get dressed and leave for work…no makeup involved, or brushing my hair even, there is no need to do those things, one because I don’t always do them back in the states, and two there are so many more things I would rather spend time doing while I am here. I am still working on school assessments, and continue to get to know not only DMP program kids on a very personal level but also the non-program kids that are here all the time as well. The relationships I am making, and the effect they are having on my life is astronomical, I can’t properly put it into words.
Life is a beautiful gift and it took this trip for me to fully realize and appreciate it on a level that I didn’t realize I could. Just one look on a woman’s face who has a child on here back, a child walking beside her, while she pushes a bike full of wood, plus a basin full on stuff on her head, it seems strained and pained at first back then her baby laughs or her child does something, and the most beautiful smile comes across her face. Or take a look at the elderly man who has a long walking stick as he walks down the dirt path where dust from cars, trucks, vans and boda’s is being blown in his face; he squints his eyes and blocks his face with his free hand, he looks almost defeated, as your turn around and look at him and he raises the hand that was blocking his face and waves at you with a sincere smile, a sincere smile that says to you, thank you for being here, good luck to you in whatever you do, there is hope for tomorrow because people care. Or look at the child with a potbelly and snot on his face and flies all over him, he walks along down a path in Pabo, his eyes show you that there are things that have occurred to him that you will never know, but you raise your hand and say, Kope di? ( how is life) and he smiles and runs and slaps your hand and says kope, (life is good) These moments in time are what make me remember just how beautiful life is, and just how lucky I am to be in the presence of people who are living it to its fullest and loving every moment of it.
I hope this finds everyone in good health wherever you are reading from, and most importantly I hope this finds you all with a smile on your face and loving and living life, because it is such a beautiful thing.
Coming here was a long road, one that was well worth it. I could not be more thrilled to be anywhere else on earth at this point in my life. I am at a time where the experiences I am having are going to shape the rest of my life, rather than waiting too long to try and experience things where my life interferes and shapes what it is I am experiences. This has been by far the greatest life altering experience thus far in my life. I can’t look at a school the same way, or a child, or a mother just doing whatever she has to do to put food on the table. I can’t ever look at a car, or a road, or a telephone the same, my outlook on life has completely been revamped in such a good way. I have only been here four weeks now, and I have six left but I could not be more pleased with what has occurred personally to my during my time here thus far.
I was on my boda-boda the other day on my way to work talking with my driver and suddenly there was a long pause of silence. My boda driver who I later found out his name to be Jeffery asked me, “Why are you here? There is danger looming? Don’t you fear being here?” I had never really stopped to think about it honestly. As I was sitting there with the wind in my hair looking up at the purest blue sky I have ever seen I realized, what do I have to fear? So I answered back, “I don’t know why I don’t fear anything bad happening while I am here. I guess it is because you are driving me to work, laughing, smiling and talking with me. How can I fear when you and all the other people I come into contact are smiling and laughing and living life. Once you stop smiling and laughing, and loving life is when I will become fearful.” He laughed and told me that he hopes he never has to stop smiling and laughing, he is just happy to be alive and because of that fact and that fact alone he must smile. As I continued talking with Jeffery he told me he was 19, my age, and all he wanted to do was go to school and become an electrical technician. My heart sunk, here is a guy who is my age who has seen and experienced things I can’t imagine and all he wants to do is go to school. I have always held my education highly on my priority list, actually it has always been at the top of my list. I know and realize how lucky I am to have received and continue to receive such a great education, however, it made me appreciate all over again just how lucky I am.
Whilst being here I have gained a new love for life. I have a renewed profound appreciation for everyday that I get to wake up. My entire outlook on life has changed, what once seemed important I am realizing is not, and what seemed trivial has gained such a great importance to me. I have done more here than I ever thought I would ever do at this point in my life, or in my life in general. I mean, I killed a chicken, never would I have thought I would do such a thing, but I did it. I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, get dressed and leave for work…no makeup involved, or brushing my hair even, there is no need to do those things, one because I don’t always do them back in the states, and two there are so many more things I would rather spend time doing while I am here. I am still working on school assessments, and continue to get to know not only DMP program kids on a very personal level but also the non-program kids that are here all the time as well. The relationships I am making, and the effect they are having on my life is astronomical, I can’t properly put it into words.
Life is a beautiful gift and it took this trip for me to fully realize and appreciate it on a level that I didn’t realize I could. Just one look on a woman’s face who has a child on here back, a child walking beside her, while she pushes a bike full of wood, plus a basin full on stuff on her head, it seems strained and pained at first back then her baby laughs or her child does something, and the most beautiful smile comes across her face. Or take a look at the elderly man who has a long walking stick as he walks down the dirt path where dust from cars, trucks, vans and boda’s is being blown in his face; he squints his eyes and blocks his face with his free hand, he looks almost defeated, as your turn around and look at him and he raises the hand that was blocking his face and waves at you with a sincere smile, a sincere smile that says to you, thank you for being here, good luck to you in whatever you do, there is hope for tomorrow because people care. Or look at the child with a potbelly and snot on his face and flies all over him, he walks along down a path in Pabo, his eyes show you that there are things that have occurred to him that you will never know, but you raise your hand and say, Kope di? ( how is life) and he smiles and runs and slaps your hand and says kope, (life is good) These moments in time are what make me remember just how beautiful life is, and just how lucky I am to be in the presence of people who are living it to its fullest and loving every moment of it.
I hope this finds everyone in good health wherever you are reading from, and most importantly I hope this finds you all with a smile on your face and loving and living life, because it is such a beautiful thing.
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