You Are The Gift

I was asked to read the portion of the talked titled "You Are The Gift" from the speech "Turning Enemies into Friends" by Sharon Eubank. She gave this forum address in January of 2018 at BYU. You can read the whole thing here if you like!

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My favorite quote from the excerpt is this- "If you want to be involved in humanitarian service, this is the way—and I hope this is the thing that you will remember from the forum today. You are the gift. You yourself are the gift. It is not the clothing, the hygiene kits, the school desks, or the wells. It is you.

What would it look like if each of us were our own well-stocked humanitarian organization? Instead of just giving out tangible goods in foreign locations, what if we had the richness of dispensing healing, friendship, respect, peaceful dialogue, sincere interest, protective listening of children, birthday remembrances, and conversations with strangers? What if that was what your humanitarian organization did?"

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I relate to this quote quite a bit actually. Before I left on my trip, I really thought I was going to do something great. I had told myself that that wasn't the reason I was going to Africa, but still in my head, I believed that I was going to do some grand thing that would be so helpful. I struggled a lot while in Kabale because I felt like I couldn't do anything. I had ideas for how to help the organization that we were with, KIHEFO, but I had no idea how to actualize them. I didn't even know if they were good ideas.

I wasn't skilled at cooking or cleaning or sewing or health care practices to actually help anyone with their jobs. I had no unique skills and I felt a little useless. The Doctor in charge of KIHEFO told us that the best way to help their organization was to write and write and write and to make noise, and I thought to myself- I'm not even good at writing? I saw all of what the other people in my group were doing to help the local people and I was so impressed by their ingenuity and ability to take the initiative. They had these ideas that were really fantastic and will make a big difference in many people's lives.

And then there was me. I was just myself. I tried to be kind, and to smile, and to be friendly, and to be the best version of myself. I tried to make every interaction positive and uplifting. But I often felt like I failed. I felt so bad. And I thought of how so many other people deserved to be here more than me.

The very last night before I left, one of the PAs told me, "Thank you for everything." I told him that I didn't do anything, and he said, "You don't know all that you've done for us."

I don't know what I did. Honestly, I didn't really do anything all that important, but then I remembered this talk. I remembered that sometimes the best gift isn't some grand idea or extremely charitable donation. Sometimes the best gift is you. It's your smile and your laughter. It's your humility. It's your failed attempt at speaking the language. It's the surprise birthday cake you helped buy for a local. It's when you hold a woman's hand as she gives birth. Sometimes those are the best gifts. And I'm so grateful that I got the chance to give some of these gifts, as small as they were. The Lord is good to me. And he blessed me to meet these people from Uganda that gave me more than I could ever give them. They taught me about life, happiness, and washing clothes by hand.

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