heart-melting

I had been in Africa for four days, when I was invited to a women's fellowship group with the Deaf wives of our translators. One of the Kenyan women, who is now a dear friend, brought her two-year-old daughter, Grace. A fellow expat warned me that Grace was terrified of "wazungu" (white foreigners) so wouldn't talk to me. Yet, when it came time for study, my Kenyan friend came in and sat down next to me on the bench, plopping little Grace right in between us.

By the end of the evening, Grace was playing with my capris, twirling my watch around my wrist, and talking in a mixture of Kiswahili and little person gibberish. I quickly found, as I whispered with her, that we had no common spoken language! Even though we are both hearing, our only common language is Kenyan Sign Language! Before she went home, she let me put her socks and shoes on. A friendship had begun.

The next few weeks, I noted that when all the other wazungu, particularly the hearing ones, run up to her with loud voices and try to pick her up, they are met with wide-eyed fear and clinging to her mom. Instead, I would sign with her, use my voice only rarely, and let her decide when I get to hold her. And, with two months now gone, we've become good friends. =) She greets me when I come up during lunch each day and often follows me inside. We drink juice or share a mango, speaking gibberish while pointing at everything in sight and asking, "Why?" or "What is it?"

When I came down with a virus last week, one of the toughest consequences was the inability to spend time with Grace since I didn't want to get her sick. And, naturally, at two, she couldn't understand why I wouldn't pick her up, come over to play, or let her in my house. She would come over and plop down on my welcome mat outside my screen door, playing and carrying on a monologue more to herself than to me, but including me when I looked her way. *melt*

After a week in more or less isolation, the virus is practically over and I'm able to interact more with others. Last night, I had two fellow expats over for dinner. We'd just finished when I heard the pattering of little feet running towards my door and heard little person knocking. Opening the door, little Gracie looked up at me with wide eyes and a huge smile, flinging her arms open for me to pick her up. *melt* I did, and she wrapped her little arms around me in a hug and squeezed. *melt* Her papa was standing across the hall on their porch and said she'd been wanting to see me and he'd given her permission.

She stayed for a little while, snuggling on my lap while my company and I played a card game. Half hour later, she let me scoop her up and take her home, content with finally having some visit time. Ahh... she just melts my heart.