Making Friends With an Angel

My first visit to Angel's village was awkward.

I stayed with Alfred and Florence. They isolated me in the house's living room and gave me a kerosene cook stove to prepare my food. They didn't know how to handle their village's first white visitor. The following day, both had to go to work. They instructed me to stay indoors with the door locked, except to use the latrine.

That was my intent, but then I heard a child crying. I tried to ignore it, but I could not. Looking out a window, I finally spotted the child. She was naked, sitting in the mud next to a home that was falling.

I couldn't take it anymore, so I ventured outside to console her. She let me pick her up, and initially, she quieted down. I think it may have been from shock to see a white person because she started crying again. A few people walked by, and I was concerned they would be suspicious of my intentions.

I sat her back down in the mud, and as I walked back to the Nabudere home, I asked God to bring her a comforter. Before I had the back door locked behind me, she had stopped crying. I observed a boy, only slightly older, consoling her.

When Florence came home that afternoon, many neighborhood children showed up for food. That sweet little girl and her comforter were amongst them. I joined them on the floor as they were eating. The little girl kept making eye contact, and eventually, she reached her leg out so that our bare feet were touching.

Her name was Angel. As the days went by, she spent a lot of time sneaking in the front door and snuggling up with me and falling asleep. Her mom would come to retrieve her at bedtime. I learned that the little boy was her cousin, Vincent. He and I became buddies too.

Florence told me that Angel was running around the village telling everyone that I was her friend. She further assured the villagers that I was trustworthy —such boldness for a little girl.

Ten years later, Angel and I are still friends. Her mom asked me to help enroll Angel in an urban boarding school rather than a village school. I agreed as she was not learning English in the village. After one term at the urban school, I went to visit her. She came running out of her classroom when she saw me. While hugging me, her first English words spoken to me were, "I love you." Then she said, "Thank you for my school fees."

I had learned to say 'I love you' in Lugisu and had been telling her those words for years. Florence later said that my repeated use of the phrase 'I love you' had changed the culture in their village. They went from believing it had a sexual connotation to thinking it was an unconditional kind of love.

When I said my first goodbye to Angel, she begged her family to provide her a laying hen to give me. She often asks me about the chicken. Promise me you won't tell her, but she thinks I brought it home to the United States and that I am enjoying eggs.

Sometimes the bravest are the littlest amongst us. If not for Angel's bravery, I may not have been accepted in the village that allowed us to plant a church, a medical clinic, and implement a filtering system for families for clean water. I can't wait to see what BIG things await that sweet little girl.

Kelly Huenink is a Christian women’s ministry leader and missionary. She oversees the work of her church in Uganda, East Africa but will joyfully go anywhere God calls her so she can build relationships strong enough to hold the Gospel.