This summer, one of our main focuses has been facilitating SLAM service camps. We have put one on in each region we have gone to, which would now be a total of 4 SLAM camps. My favorite, though, had to be our SLAM camp in Uganda, for more reasons than one.
The first definitely being the relationships I developed with the students. I was so impacted by their vulnerability in sharing with me parts of their lives and getting to see their joy as I served with them.
The story I want to tell is about one of the girls I met, named Patience. The first interaction I had with her was a brief introduction and dinner the very first night. It had to be close to 11, and we had just gotten pizza to eat for dinner, so I sat down at a table with some of our African interns and 2 of our SLAM students, who turned out to be Patience’s and her friend Doreen. That night, I remember her being so full of joy the whole time—smiling, laughing, talking.
We answered prompts about what veggie we would be, who out of the people we met would be our therapists, and what characteristics we look for in a friend. That was the most of our interactions for most of the second day.
On the third day, we went to a soccer game, where the boy interns were playing a local team at a school called St. John’s. When I got there, I had planned to work on creating a schedule for people to do blogs. But then Patience’s came over to me asking if I wanted to walk around—of course, I said yes.
So we walked around, and she mentioned how she was feeling down because Doreen had to stay on campus because she was sick, and she was scared. So I took that time to walk with her and be a solid presence for her in that moment. We walked around the school, talked to some of the school girls, who ended up giving us a small tour of their school. And we ended by playing a big game of concentration (which is an extremely hard game) with a big group of the SLAM students, interns, and school girls. Part of the game’s goal is to stay on rhythm. I don’t think I was ever on rhythm, and I remember looking across the circle at Patience’s and just laughing with her because I just couldn’t get the game down.
It then started to pour, so we played some games in a classroom, then moved around to try and see a bit of the soccer game, but everyone was already crowding the window, so we just sat and talked. She started telling me a bit of her story, telling me of how she has struggled with sickness and pain most of her life. She talked about how she often masks her pain with laughter and smiling because she doesn’t want to feel the pain.
That’s why she’s always laughing—because she has had to pretend—and it broke me. While she was telling me, I found it hard to keep it together when I knew that no one should have to go through that. No one should have to live in those conditions. No one should lose their childhood. No one should just have to go through their life just trying to survive.
It’s easy for many people to judge others based on a few interactions or their outer appearance and let that determine their perception of a person—whether they have faced hardships or not—but we have to remember that behind each person is a deep story, and for most people here, one that is painful, one that is requiring the Lord’s healing.
This is something that Mr. Garner has been teaching us during this trip, and something that I have reflected on a lot before the trip. It makes me think of the passage in Mark 1, where Jesus talks and heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, or Jesus talking to the woman at the well and Him listening to her story. I think it is extremely important for people to have a space to share their stories. I was so thankful for the Lord giving me this friendship with one of the SLAM students—it is one that I will never forget.
When we got back from the soccer game, I was blessed to have a conversation with Patience and Doreen, and she was able to speak to me about some of her reflections from the week. She told me the way I served this week, and was able to serve her in specific, was transformational for her. She said that before, she never thought about serving, but going back home she wants to implement that. I was really touched that she was able to be transformed by the SLAM week, and it encouraged me to continually serve and give of myself. It made me think of two verses:
Mark 10:45, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give His life as a ransom,” and
Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you not look to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
This is the way I want to serve—to not look at my own needs, but to have God’s Word written on my heart and let it inform how I serve. And I know when I do that, I will be able to serve others and glorify the Lord to my fullest capacity.