What I learned from the Philly Team

We just spent one incredible week with a team from Philadelphia City Church who came through Orphan Outreach. They were 10 people divided into a medical team and a teaching team. The medical team attended every student at AFE and their families. The teaching teams taught science and VBS to all of our classes. Pretty typical right? Well for some reason, I feel I learned so much from them. For example -

A Smile makes such a difference – One of their members, Ethan, had the biggest and brightest smile ever. Every time I saw him, I felt happier.

Science can be fun – The science team had our students plant gardens and seeds for their science class. I have seen many of our kids returning to see if their plants have grown. They seem to like science which is awesome by atypical.

Just Serve and Love – This team did whatever was needed no matter what. We fed in the garbage dump, worked until late evenings, skipped lunches, painted and varnished and you name it. They barely took any breaks.

Everyone Matters – They brought presents for all the staff but we have two new staff members. You should have seen how concerned and worried they were. They promised to send something down for them. I would have just said “sorry but you guys gave us the wrong number of teachers. “

Language is not an excuse - Although most of the team could not speak Spanish they were always interacting with the students. During meals they did not exclude themselves but sat among the children and somehow communicated.

We receive over 25 teams a year and all of them are special in their own way. But this team had something that I cant quite put my finger on. I just know that I thoroughly enjoyed their presence and feel blessed to have known them. I hope they return and become partners with AFE.