A moment that brought me joy was dancing with Jonathan and at the end of the week getting to tell him he isn’t alone and has a real friend now. During SLAM I was given the task to debrief with some students after service projects. We sat at a table with our lunch and started talking about the day and how service went. It was during this time I met Jonathan we had a very good conversation about the day and the impact of the service done. After the debrief time we continued talking and our conversation shifted towards friendship. Jonathan shared that from his experience in Uganda he didn’t have any real friends. They would act like they care but wouldn’t support you and want to see you do well. He said that in America everyone is so friendly but I shared with him that friendship is actually very similar in America to how he described it in Uganda. People don’t really want to see you do well or better than them and will be fake with you acting like they care but they don’t.
I encouraged Jonathan that as this Nu Nation we are called to be different and that you SLAM students can change how friendships are. After we talked Jonathan said he loved our conversation. I saw Jonathan again at the concert SLAM threw on for the students. The concert featured some christian artists from Uganda as well as Justice. At first me and Jonathan were in the back dancing a little to the music, but eventually we decided to go down in the middle and dance with everyone. We had so much fun, we danced and jumped to Justice’s music and after that got to worship to the following artist’s music. At the end of SLAM Jonathan shared that he always saw himself as a loner and didn’t like dancing or worshiping because he didn’t think it was cool. He shared that his time here changed that mindset and that he started participating in worship and dancing. After I got to tell him that he isn’t a loner any more and that he has a real friend. He smiled and said yeah I’m not alone anymore, you’re my friend.