Heart Connection

What heart connection could be formed between such contrasted lives? The older veiling her hardships with a look of indifference, the younger learning to smile through her suffering. Could a connection be made in a short amount of time?

Getting ready to leave Thursday morning I heard someone coming to the door. I craned my neck up to greet Esther, a young lady from the Congolese refugee camp. She wanted to hang out with me. 

"I'm on my way to visit one of my young Mwani friends to help her with English," I told Esther, then I had an idea. "Do you want to come with me?" Esther sometimes translates for the missionaries who work in the Congolese camp. She speaks great English from having lived in South Africa. "I know my Mwani friend would love to hear you speak English," I told her.

"Sure," Esther replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

When we arrived, I greeted everyone as usual with a mixture of Portuguese and Kimwani. Esther asked me which language I was speaking. I told her it was Kimwani.

"It sounds similar to Swahili," she replied.

"A___ speaks Swahili too!" I said with excitement. A___ is the Mwani girl I'm helping teach English to. As Esther started speaking Swahili with A___, a spark of interest rose in her eyes, peaking through the veil of indifference.

A___ took everything in stride, all smiles as she responded to Esther. After introductions were made, she got her notebook and hunkered down on a short stool in front of me. A look of eagerness shone from her eyes. I asked her a question in English and she responded correctly. She beamed at my praise and asked for a new phrase.

During this exchange, Esther seemed to come alive. I sat back to watch as she took over. She would gesture with her long arms, explaining something in Swahili, or have A___ repeat an English phrase until she pronounced it correctly. The veil of indifference had disappeared.

On the way back, Esther told me she enjoyed getting to know A___. "She's very intelligent," she told me with a look of admiration. I smiled. I had invited Esther along to encourage A___ with her English, but A___'s positive attitude, despite all she's suffered, had rubbed off on Esther. The young heart had touched the older in a way I hadn't expected.

(to read how I met A___ click here: https://racheljwmk.blogspot.com/2021/06/pity-or-admiration.html) 

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