Home is Where Your Hut Is

As the sights along the road became familiar a feeling of excitement began to fill me. I wonder if my "family" was waiting for me. The Béré sign came into view my moto driver pointed at it and I nodded. We curved to the right and took off on the sandy path that leads to the hospital. We past Sonya's courtyard - her family coming out jumping up and down, waving, and shouting. We waved back. We were coming home! We pulled up to the hospital compound, drank a couple huge glasses of water and began with our second Christmas Celebration. Yes, each of us had a huge stack of packages to open. We sat there for a couple hours savoring each package and exclaiming over each other's discoveries of what was inside them. With Christmas over it was time to head home. Each of us packed up our bags and things from our packages to give to our families. When I opened the hospital door I found the 3 youngest girls in my family all smiles. I picked us Dorcus swung her around and gave the other two hugs. They each grabbed something I was carrying and the constant chatter began as we headed home. They told me about the New Years celebration and what each of them had gotten. They told me that Berthe was going to scream when she saw me. I told them we should try and surprise them. So we took off on a path that came out at the back of our courtyard. I told them to be quiet. They started shhhhinng all the neighbor kids as we approached the courtyard wall on our tiptoes. That's when Washike, and Howaa spotted me. Lee, lee, lee and heads began to pop up over the wall. Then Berthe came flying around the corner at the end of the path running at top speed with her arms out shouting lee, lee, lee. I wanted to cry but instead ran to her shouting "Berthe." She hugged me tightly for a long time. When we entered the courtyard greetings were being shouted everywhere. Howaa came running to me and hugged me in only a way that a mom can. Yep, I was Home, home to my hut. I immediately sat down on the mat and told them about my trip as I handed out dried fruit, lotion, lip gloss, flashlights, and other things from the packages. I've never seen people get so excited over such little things. They were absolutely radiate. That night I slept so well after drinking a cup of hot milk and eating beignets. How did I ever think I would be better off at the hospital house. God knew what He was doing all along. He was giving me a home and a family who loved me.