Spontaneous Generosity

On this day 10 years ago I was shocked and appalled by what my eyes were seeing on the conference room TV at work.  It just didn't make sense, it couldn't make sense. In this post I could reflect about that day and how it affected me, our nation and how we should never forget...all good things, but instead today I want to focus on something that is in exact contrast to the horrors we endured that fateful September day.

This story takes place in Uganda. I traveled there just 5 months ago with a group of friends from my church. This trip was part of a long-term community development initiative I set up for our church to care and show up for others. Erika was one of the many friends on my trip. It was her first time in Africa and she brought along some family pictures from home to use as conversation starters and to show to her new Ugandan friends. One of the pictures that she just happened to grab at the last minute to bring along was of her wedding day.

(Erika is pictured third from the Right)  

Now the pastor we partner with in Uganda is Gerald Kittabwa and at the time of this story, he was engaged to be married to Jalia.  Erika met Jalia towards the end of our trip and was sharing her family pictures with her.  When Jalia saw Erika's wedding picture she was so interested to see what an American wedding was like and soon began comparing the different traditions. Erika say the obvious interest and just spontaneously asked, "Would you like to have my wedding dress for your wedding?'. The wedding was just 3 short months away.  

It's important to note at this point in the story that I had mentioned to the team to not make any promises to our new Uganda friends that they could not keep. So when I heard Erika had offered her dress I was a bit concerned about how this could really come about.  There is no guarantee for shipping anything from the US to Africa, and three months was barely enough time.  How were we going to get this dress to Jalia? Erika had no idea, I had no idea.

Fast forward to the month of July.  Erika is at her bank back home in Texas and was explaining to one of the bankers why she didn't have her driver's license. Which was because she had lost it during her recent trip to Uganda.  Just then the banker says, "Oh a girl here is leaving for Uganda on Friday!" "Excuse me?!" "Where?" "Kampala, the capital city." Gerald travels frequently between Rushere and Kampala! This now was sounding very doable!  So Erika got everything together and handed over the wedding dress for "special delivery"!  Gerald and Jalia received the dress one month before the wedding!

Incredible.  

Spontaneous generosity is a beautiful thing!  Instead of dwelling on the horrors this day holds in our nation's memory, let's all stop and think how different the world would be if we like Erika just practiced a little selfless, spontaneous generosity!

Go here for more pictures from the wedding!