Zulpha gave us some African skirts that she had bought. That was so touching because she really didn't have the money to buy us skirts. This is a great example of how generous and selfless the people are here in Tanzania. We sat down and asked Zulpha to tell us about herself. Since the letters she writes us only talk about school and what she bought with what we gave her, we knew nothing about her. She explained to us that she lives with her mother, father, brother, aunt, and cousin. She also said that before she was in the Compassion program, (which was six years ago) her family was Muslim. Everyone in her family (except her father) is now a Christian. Her father is thinking about becoming a Christian right now, though. She obviously has a very strong relationship with God. She shared her favorite verse in the Bible- Psalms 24:1. We found out that their family of six lives in one small room, which they rent. In Tanzania, those who rent rooms are considered the poorest because they don't have home-ownership. Apparently this room costs $19 a month. Since there is not enough room for all of them, they sometimes ask if Zulpha can sleep on the floor of the hair salon nearby.
Before the trip, we had bought her a swimsuit in case we wanted to swim. But when we got there, we were told that the children here never swim, so we decided not to bring the swimsuit for her to the meeting place. When I asked her what she likes to play, she said soccer, tennis, and swimming in the river. I was so surprised to hear this! We still had the swimsuit in our luggage at the room, so I told Zulpha that there was a pool at the hotel and that we brought a swimsuit for her. Her eyes lit up and she definitely wanted to swim. We spent a good portion of the day swimming in the pool. She actually didn't know how to swim! We went into the kiddie pool where the rest of the kids were and played Marco Polo. After a little while, I asked if she wanted to go to the deep pool. She immediately responded, "No." But when I got into the deep pool, the translator asked her again if she wanted to go in. It took a little convincing, but she soon was in the pool. She stayed close to the edge with a tube around her, but I was so proud of her for getting in. She had never swam in a deep pool before, so this was a big deal!
After lunch, we played games like tic-tac-toe, Hangman, dot-to-dot, and Uno. She enjoyed that! Before we knew it, though, we only had 20 minutes before the children had to go! We scrambled to get her gifts and she excitedly opened them. The backpack of gifts included candy, headbands, flip-flops, and craft supplies. We also gave her an early birthday present.
We went outside with only 10 minutes left, so we took some pictures and prayed. All of the kids and sponsors gathered up to take a group picture. We gave Zulpha one last long hug before it was time for her to go back home. We thanked her for the lovely skirt again and before we knew it, she was on the bus, waving goodbye at us.
The day seemed to go by so fast. What a blessing it was to meet my sponsored child! Apparently, only 1% of the children in the Tanzania Compassion program, which is about 650 children, get to meet their sponsors. I will forever remember this wonderful day.
When we first met Zulpha
In the pool!
Saying goodbye
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