(Here’s a post from our team member, Maddie.)

I had never seen so many smiles in such a tiny room.

On Sunday afternoon our team went to the slum community in Agbogbloshie. To get to the Bible club, we had to walk through the market, alleys, and amidst homes. Not knowing what to expect, we finally reached the entrance. Cheers and songs erupted. In that moment I knew I wouldn’t be the same.

Children leaped from the crowd clinging to our team members like they had been waiting all year. They had been.

I looked up and locked eyes with Gertrude, my friend that I sponsored and wrote to many times. She made her way through a sea of smiling faces to finally meet me face to face. “I missed you,” she said. And I began to realize it was possible to miss someone, even many people, you had never met.

They escorted us back to our cars, and reluctant to say goodbye I said, “See you tomorrow!”

This morning camp began with an exploding bus of smiles and laughter, just like yesterday. Kids came rushing through the gate eager to learn and play. One little girl in my group was very quiet. She wasn’t smiling much and I could tell she was trying to get a feel for what was going on. During the songs she sang quietly and kept to herself. But I think camp has a way of making huge smiles out of sometimes hurting little hearts. By game time, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face, and neither could I. And it’s only the first day.

With so many kids willing to learn and sing at the top of their lungs, camp can only get better from here. These kids brought the love. And it’s big.

Cheryl Zimmerman