I also met a sweet girl named Carro who had a little sister named Namanya. I got to spend most of my time in the village with them and talk to Carro while I picked up Namanya and tried to get her to laugh, which she never did. Carro also had a little brother who I got to briefly meet who she also looked after.

Carro asked me if I lived with my mother and then told me she didn’t know who her parents were. Namanya was wearing only a baggy tee shirt. She didn’t even have a pair of panties on.. I wrapped my scarf around her while she sat in my lap and held onto my finger. She was so little, she hardly weighed anything. I told Carro that she does have a Father, the same Father as me. He made the sky and the ground and you and me and He is our Father. I think she couldn’t understand what I meant because she just shook her head and said, “I don’t know my father.” Then, in broken English she told me she would like to go to my home and be with me. I didn’t know what to say I just hugged her. When it was time to get back on the bus I wasn’t ready to leave Carro and Namanya. I hugged them both again and again and when I gave Namanya back to her sister she started crying so I picked her up again and she stopped. My heart broke for her. I knew that must be the story of her life- anytime someone picks her up, they always put her back down again, they always leave her.
As the bus began to drive away kids were running up to my window trying to sell me beads. Other kids kept yelling, “Sweets! Sweets!” while they rubbed their belly and pouted their lips. And then, in the wave of Ugandan voices I heard a little girl calling my name. It was Carro. She had left her little sister to follow me to the bus, just to say good bye. Some of the kids just wanted to sell me their beads to make a profit from me, others just wanted my candy, but Carro knew me. She knew my name and I knew her. And I loved her. And God just opened my eyes to his relationship with his church. Apart from Christ, we just want God’s stuff, we want to make a profit from him, we want his candy. But when God calls us out of darkness and we turn to him we know Him and we don’t go to him to get his stuff, we just want him because we know him and love him and he knows us and knows us by name

Of course, I don’t want to give the impression that I was angry that the kids were trying to sell me their beads or wanted my candy- they need money and they are just kids so of course they love sweets I loved and felt compassion for all of those little kids. But it was so cool to ‘know’ little Carro and her sweet little sister Namanya and for God to use that to show me his love for his people.

Earlier that day Carro told me she liked me and as our bus drove away I yelled out the window, “Carro I love you!” and she hollered back, “Love you too!” and then I just starred out my window as we drove down the road looking at the little shacks and I cried and cried. I prayed, ‘God please give them a family.’