Shalom My Friend

After a grueling two days straight on the road, I finally made it to Arusha, Tanzania. I have a friend here that I met at the World Council of Churches in Brazil, and I was looking forward to seeing her. I was exhausted and just feeling a bit down (probably from lack of sleep and food!).

I had been in contact with Joan (pronounced Joanne), and she helped look up places where I could do service work. When I got in, I grabbed a cheap hotel room, and called her. She was away, in the nearby town of Moshi (at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro), at a funeral. I didn’t know then, but funerals here in Africa are much longer affairs. Sometimes even three to four days! I was disappointed, because I knew that seeing a familiar face would help my spirits, but of course I knew it was important for her to be with her grieving friend.

But she did tell me that I should go to the ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania) to ask them about service opportunities. The next day, after searching around the city, I found the ELCT offices. I went in and talked with them, but they had no idea what to do with me. At this point I was feeling really low. What was I going to do?

I called Joan back, and she said she had talked to someone at Compassion International about me volunteering there. So I headed on over. I talked with the volunteer director, but he said they wouldn’t have anything for over a week. And, the work would be stuffing envelopes to send to the different donors.

I know that those kinds of things are important, but I didn’t want to spend my time in Africa doing that. I wanted to be with people. So, I quickly told him thanks, but I was looking to get started right away- I didn’t have a lot of time here in Arusha due to the change in plans.

The volunteer coordinator then offered a suggestion. He is on the board of a local home for street kids, and he could call up the director and ask if I could volunteer there. Without hesitation, I agreed.

The coordinator was happy to have a volunteer. He was close by and would meet me and take me to the center. I was really excited because this is the kind of work I wanted to do. For some strange reason, I have always (since middle school at least) had a dream to volunteer at a home for street kids and orphans in Tanzania. Why Tanzania, I’m not sure. But that’s been a dream of mine.

When we got to the place and I met the kids, I knew that this is where I should be for my time in Arusha. It wasn’t the original plan, but somehow I was directed here, to the Shalom Center for Street Kids.