Volunteering

It was my hope that in coming to Mbingo I would be able to volunteer in some capacity. Granted, I’m not in the medical profession, but there is so much good to be done here that I was confident I would be able to find a place to help. Here at Mbingo, there is a deaf school and I was planning on spending some time there during our trip. Unfortunately, like our schools in the United States, the deaf school was closed for the summer. You know what they say, “when one door closes, another one opens.” This little setback only opened the door to volunteer in the pediatric ward at the hospital. I was excited for this opportunity and planned for what I could do to cheer up these kids.

Before I left for Mbingo, I made many copies of Bible coloring pages to pass out. There were crayons here that I was also able to give away. While I’ve been here, Noah, Jane and I have worked on mobiles for the peds wards. We wanted something to hang from the windows or ceiling that they could look at and put a smile on their face.

The mobiles we made hanging in the windows of the pediatric ward

Liz also purchased a portable photo printer with the goal of taking a picture of each patient on the peds ward. The kids and I also made picture frames out of popsicle sticks and were able to give each child a framed picture of themselves. Yesterday afternoon, Liz, Hannah and I went to the pediatric ward to hang the mobiles and pass out the coloring pages and crayons. The nurses also helped blow up some balloons we brought and handed them out to the kids.

It was these little things and our comforting words that maybe helped the children forget their circumstances for just a moment. I doubt I made an impact on their life in the short amount of time I spent with each one of them, but they certainly made an impact on mine. I’m a better person for having been here.