Just Because I'm Losing, Doesn't Mean I'm Lost

I usually can't stand to sit through the four-hour lecture I have on Wednesday nights for my Educational Psychology class, the content is massive and theory just doesn't trip my trigger, but last nights class was overwhelmingly emotional for me. We opened the class with this video



If you don't have the time to watch it, the video basically takes some of the world's most basic demographics and puts them into the practical terms of, "what if the world was a village of 100 people". To me the stats were staggering, I honestly felt like one of the most selfish people on earth. I hadn't even considered the fact that I have a checking account, actually 2, or a laptop, or the internet, we are just so oblivious to how GOOD we have it here, or at least I am.

After the video we had two guest speakers, Elvira Mehic and Valentino Mathiang. Elvira is an English teacher in Urbandale and has lived a life a can't imagine. She was born in Bosnia and due to the war at the age of five was moved to a refugee camp in Germany. She then lived in Germany until the 6th grade when her family was forced to the US, where they have since stayed. Elvira had to learn German and English on the fly, I have no idea where you would even begin. She had some fabulous insight into what it is like to be a refugee student. For instance she had never seen a lunchroom and didn't know how they worked so she didn't eat for her first three days at school, she also said it was so embarrassing to come to a culture where we wear different clothes everyday, because her family did not have the means to provide her with the mass amounts of clothing that we American's are accustomed to.

Although Elvira's story was compelling I was floored by Valentino. Valentino is a "Lost Boy" from southern Sudan and his story is one that literally took my breath away. Valentino opened with a rap about the war and then basically opened the floor for questions, he was incredibly thoughtful and soft-spoken in his responses. In 1987 when Valentino was 5, the Muslims of northern Sudan invaded the Christian southern Sudan and literally leveled it killing over 2 million people. Women and children were seen as valuable and were sold into slavery and approximately 30,000 young boys fled into the bush of Sudan. These boys then began a 3 month journey walking from Sudan to Ethiopia, Valentino was one of them. He separated from his mother, father, 5 brothers and 2 sisters and has only seen his mother once since. Valentino survived a journey where boys would literally drop dead while walking, they were eaten by lions in the night and by crocidiles as they crossed rivers ..... at age 5 Valentino saw this. Eventually Valentino walked with the boys back to southern Sudan because Ethiopia broke into war, after arriving in Sudan the boys made their way to a Kenyan refugee camp, it was here where Valentino was educated in a private school and received his college education in construction. Valentino has been in the US since 2004 when 3800 "Lost Boys" were relocated here.

I'm pretty sure I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after he got done speaking, I was amazed at him and his journey. I think the most amazing thing about Valentino was his undying faith in God. I know I would be bitter and angry at God if I had to go through what Valentino did, but Valentino said in all honesty that God has a purpose for him and he trusts in the Lord. He said every experience he has had was because God planned it for him and he is here because he has trusted God the entire time......wow. He ended the night by singing us a love song he had written and another rap about hope. As I left the room I shook his hand and simply said, "Thank You", I didn't know what else to say without crying. I know I will never forget Valentino and his story of unwavering faith, especially when I think I am having a bad day.

All of this leads me to thinking about mission work. I have participated in two mission trips here within the US and I think that it might be time for another. The trips I took to Virginia and Kentucky were some of the best experiences of my life and really put things into perspective for me. I mean vacations are nice, but helping people is pretty great too. I think I will begin by reading the book They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky and see if I still feel the pull to Africa, but I hope to get one solid trip under my belt before I finish grad school.