Our maize family

About 2 months ago Arielle and I were riding home on a piki from Amani. We had to make a stop to pick up something for dinner, so while I sat on the piki, Arielle ran inside. I noticed a woman and her 2 daughters sitting on the street selling roasted maize (corn) and said, "hello," to them. The elder of the daughters was so excited that I greeted her that she began to jump up and down. I was carrying some chocolate that an adoptive parent had brought for us (Thanks Leala and Tim!) and decided to give the girls a few pieces. The older daughter, about 5-years, got down on her knees to thank me. The mother was beaming and telling me, "thank you," over and over again. A man standing near-by translated that the woman was saying she had never seen kindness like that before. Really? A piece of chocolate? I was appalled that anyone would think this was a big gesture, and decided right then and there that Arielle and I were going to "adopt" this little maize family. Arielle came out to meet the family and agreed whole-heartedly!
The next night we brought dinner for the family. They accepted it graciously, and thanked us by giving us each a piece of maize. We have since stopped by every few nights with clothes, pajamas, books, groceries, milk, crayons, etc. On Mother's Day we prepared a gift bag for Jamira, the mother. We bought a banana fiber bag and filled it with tea, sugar, chocolate, lotion and some fancy biscuits. So the girls didn't feel left out, we brought bunny ear headbands that we found in Kampala and some sweeties. Whenever we pass by our maize family, Shakira (the 5-year-old) screams with delight, and the younger daughter (almost 2-years) who used to fear us, is now letting us hold her and smiles. Shakira likes to be the one to accept our gifts and runs to mom, glowing with pride, as they open the bags to see what we brought.
One of our favorite things about our project with our adopted family is that they don't speak English very well. Each time, we are thanked with big smiles, hand shakes and maize, and in turn, we smile at them and tell them in English that we will be back soon. This family doesn't really know who we are, why we are here, or why he have chosen to "sponsor" them. Our hope is that they see a Christ-like love in us, through our love for them and that they can see kindness in a whole different level.
This Wednesday we're taking the little girls home for the evening for a bubble bath, dinner and sweeties. I don't know who is going to be more excited, us or them!