Shoeboxes

In early September, I had the amazing experience of attending an OCC shoebox distribution in a town nearby to where we live. I’m posting about it now, closer to Christmas time, because that’s when most people in the West are shopping and packing boxes. Orcxance offered to stay home with the girls so I could go without having to worry about managing the girls while trying to fully enjoy the distribution.

It was a completely local event. No translators, no other white people except me. It was a surreal experience to watch from beginning to end, understanding everything that was said. I have been on both ends of it; from buying supplies to packing shoeboxes to volunteering in the warehouse to being right there when the kids are handed the boxes. I never thought I’d get to do this. It was like a dream come true. I feel so blessed. Not many people get this chance in a lifetime! And those who do probably don’t understand the local language so the experience is hampered by translators. You can’t get the full effect that way.

They started out with the pastor and his wife doing a gospel presentation with picture posters. Then there was singing and prayer and more singing. There were about 10 helpers/interns who wore red shirts and badges. They managed to keep the kids quiet (sort of) and sitting down for most of the time.

In some ways it was just like what you see from the videos, and just how I imagined it would be. The smiles, the singing, the excited drumming on the tops of boxes, the little kids going home carrying the boxes on their heads.

But in other ways it was totally different. Like the fact that not every kid got a box, or that a little boy got a 5-9 girls box because there were too many girl boxes! Or that some of the kids were very serious and intense, clinging to their boxes possessively. Or that some kids were crying and hysterical because they had to wait an extra minute to get their box and thought they were going to miss out.

Thankfully there was enough for all the little kids, and the older kids could understand that their gifts were coming later. I didn’t see anyone crying because of that.

The pastor gave me free range to take as many pictures and videos as I wanted, so I took advantage of the opportunity and got some great pictures. I even got to hand one child a shoebox. It was a little boy who was crying because he thought he’d missed out, so the picture I took of him he has tears running down his face.

The pastor said another truck would be arriving at some point with more boxes. I wondered why they didn’t wait and do it all at the same time, when there was enough gifts for all the kids, but I guess it’s up to the leaders to do it as they see fit. Maybe they were worried about the boxes being ruined since they were stored in a mud hut.

When the boxes were handed out, I think there were about 85 or so, it was complete chaos. All the older children crowded around to watch and the little kids were reaching out their hands for a box. The team was trying to get girl boxes to girls and boy boxes to boys but it got a bit jumbled when they realized there weren’t enough boy boxes.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see them open their gifts. The team had the children go home with their boxes, which was probably best since it would have been even more difficult to manage the situation and the older kids very likely would have started taking stuff. We left after the crowd started to disperse and I went home with a lot of pictures and a very full heart.