An Overwhelming Thankfulness

          The children showed a great appreciation for one of the Cornerstone employees this week. Uncle Guster, the dad at the orphanage, will be leaving Cornerstone soon, as he is going to finish his college education.  He has only been at Cornerstone since the beginning of 2012, but he has been a wonderful dad to these kids.  When we first told the children that Guster was leaving, there was silence and a lot of sad faces.  We told them that we would like for them to think of the things he had done for them, and to show their appreciation through cards.  Wow, were we ever surprised at the amount of things they thought of.  Everything from him making them bathe well to helping them with washing clothes to playing soccer with them during free time.  We actually had to put an end to the ideas because we ran out of time and free space in the cards!  How wonderful to see that the children see the impact of this adult in their lives.

         After putting the cards together, we also asked the children to consider showing thankfulness in another way.  We asked them to give some of their weekly allowance towards a few gifts for Guster to use in college.  They all agreed to participate financially (except for Isaac, whose 5 years old and apparently thought of other, greater uses for his money, like buying a Hot Wheels car).  All in all, the kids gave about 4,000 shillings (or $2 in printed Cornerstone money, which we then converted to real Ugandan shillings), and we were able to buy a ream of paper and 10 writing pens for Guster to use.  We collected these gifts and waited patiently to surprise Guster this past Wednesday night.  As he came back from town that evening, we had the children hiding underneath the desks in one of the classes.  Aunt Monicah and I asked him to come inside, and as he entered, the children jumped out and yelled: “Surprise!!”  He was definitely shocked and overwhelmed with the cards and gifts they had for him.  It was touching to watch the kids read what they had written, and present him with the paper and pens.  I think he felt appreciated, and the children definitely came away with another life lesson.  I hope that they are always thankful, not just for what they get, but also for what others do for them.  Although I have shown appreciation to other people in my own life many times, I also took away a new appreciation for thankfulness.  How wonderful to learn from a lesson that I am also teaching!

          

This is a picture of a group of kids (from left to right: Charles, Mutwahiru, Peter and Brenda 1) as they waited for Uncle Guster.  Behind them is one of the cards the kids decorated.  (I’m not sure why Peter is putting up his index finger, but there was a lot of excitement at this point, so who knows!).