Worth the Wait

What an incredible day!!

When we started our girls football club a couple of years ago we had written a letter to Honourable Millie Odhiambo, a Member of Parliament that comes from this local area. The letter was requesting her to be the patron of our football club. We asked her because she has been a champion of child rights for many years, especially involving girls; and that was one of the main reasons that she was nominated to Parliament by her political party. I had met with her last month at Parliament and she talked about her passion for mentoring young girls and promised to come and share with our girls.

She planned on coming two weeks ago, but it never worked out. When she told me she would come on Saturday, we made plans for our girls to come and learn from her. Unfortunately she was called to go and campaign for some other party members in Western Province. So she rescheduled for Sunday morning. We announced to our Junior girls yesterday after training that they should come today. Then I sent text messages to the parents of our older girls that come from around. Millie called Saturday night and again Sunday morning to say that she was running late, but she made it a point to come, even though there were many other places she was supposed to be.

Finally, at 11:30 am on Sunday, thirty of our girls walked over to Millie's mother's house and were ushered into the living room by the mother and sisters. Teacher Rozeline introduced the club to Millie and told her about some of our activities. At Millie's request, each girl introduced herself by using an adjective that starts with the same first letter as their name (eg. Smiling Sarah and Excellent Esther, etc.). After that, I can only tell you what I found out later from the girls, because all of the "men" were asked to leave so the girls could share together alone.

She spent about one and a half hours with the girls sharing her life story and giving them encouragement. She told them how her father died when she was six years old and that her mother struggled to raise 8 children on her own. Growing up, she didn't have any shoes to wear to school or any books. Their family was very poor, but she worked hard to make something of her life. It was a story that many of our girls could relate to because of their backgrounds as orphans from poor families. It was inspiring to them.

Not only did she buy sodas for everyone, but she insisted on serving them herself to show that even a "big" person can serve young kids, teaching teaching them humility and service. After the treat everyone came outside for a few photos together. Then, with the help of her sister Caro who had been taking notes during the meeting, she announced the names of the girls that had been participating the most by answering questions and asking questions. She gave sh. 200 ($2.50) to each of the 11 students that were the most active. She explained to all of them that it is important to learn how to be bold and open; they should always be ready to ask questions.

What a great opportunity for thirty of our girls to be able to sit down with a member of Parliament and chat face to face. It is hard to believe that such an important politician in our country cares so much for the young girls that she can leave the big campaign rallies and television cameras and travel all the way to Mbita to take time to sit down and mentor the future generation.

All of our girls agreed that it was definitely worth the wait!