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Christ the King member, John Wandke, writes of his recent experience traveling to Tanzania and meeting the student he has been sponsoring at the Maa Sae Girls Lutheran Secondary School.

Last month I made my first trip to Tanzania with two purposes. First, I looked forward to being introduced to the country and the people, and seeing the wildlife I had heard so much about. And second, I was excited to meet the student I sponsored at MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School and attend her Form 6 Graduation Ceremony!

We arrived at the Girls school on Thursday, towards the end of our trip, just in time to attend their 5:30 daily Chapel service led by the girls. After the service, I was talking with a number of the students, including a young girl named Naomi. I asked her if she knew Monica, and she said she did and would go find her. A few minutes later I was hugging this sweet, timid, tiny young lady I had been sponsoring. She immediately thanked me for being her sponsor and was so appreciative of the support she was receiving. We talked for a while, took pictures, then agreed we’d meet up again tomorrow. Already I couldn’t wait for that time to come. The next morning, I walked around the school campus and took some pictures and ran into Naomi, as she was helping to clean the campus for tomorrow’s graduation ceremony.

After visiting several primary schools in Monduli on Friday, our group returned to the MaaSae School’s Guesthouse where we were staying. Since six of the people in our group were sponsoring Form 6 girls, we arranged to have those six students come to the Guesthouse together so that we sponsors could have some one-on-one time with our kids, then give them the graduation gifts we had for them. My mind was in overdrive as to how to lead the discussion with my student, Monica. Wanting to gain her trust but not overwhelm her, I knew things needed to go slowly, don’t force conversation or try too hard to make things happen. It was important that she would always feel comfortable with me. As we found our space to talk, I began by telling her a bit about me, including that I did not have kids. Immediately she said, “You don’t have kids? I am your daughter then.” Ironically, those words suddenly seemed to bring the two of us together and into an incredible relationship I couldn’t have imagined.

Saturday morning I walked onto campus to get pictures of Monica before the Graduation Chapel Service. Of course I ran into Naomi again. Anywhere I would go on campus I seemed to bump into Naomi. She was so sweet and helpful to me those past few days; I had to ask her if she had met her sponsor yet. She did not know if she had one.

After getting pictures of Monica, she told me she would have a friend of hers translate the Chapel service for me, since Monica and the other graduates would be sitting together in the front. I thanked her for her thoughtfulness and my jaw about hit the ground when I learned that she had asked Naomi to be my translator. In my mind I was saying “I hear you loud and clear, Lord.” Later that evening I asked Jason from OBA if he could find out whether Naomi had a sponsor, and we quickly learned she did not. Immediately I told OBA that “I’m in. I want to sponsor her.”

Saturday was a wonderful day with the graduation ceremony and spending time with Monica. I have grown to adore this young lady, and in only a few days.

When Sunday morning arrived, I walked to the Chapel early to see if perhaps I would run into Monica. It was time for our first ‘family’ discussion. Since she was now my ‘daughter,’ it was important that she have a say in whether ‘we’ would sponsor her friend, Naomi. When she said we should, we hugged and went off looking for Naomi. Since Chapel was about to being, we would have to put off finding Naomi until after the service. As Chapel service was about to end, we saw Naomi, pulled her aside and asked if she would allow us to sponsor her. That’s when she gave me the biggest hug ever. Then the three of us had a group hug. Just then, several of our OBA group walked by, so I handed one of them my camera and asked if they would quickly “take, like, a thousand pictures of us three.” After a few pictures, the Sr. member of our family (me) may have suggested to the younger members that we make silly faces for the camera, which we did, as we all laughed. We were having so much fun. We were all so happy, and now a ‘family.’ Life could not get any better…until it did. Since our travel group was leaving [that day], I had to leave the girls. As my family escorted me on the 5-minute walk to the front entry, Monica took hold of my hand and we held hands the whole way. She trusted me. I love these kids.