After mission trips many people will describe their experience as “challenging,” “eye-opening,” or maybe you have heard the classic: “life changing.” After spending two-and-a-half weeks in Kenya and being blessed enough to be invited to The Hope Center, I would describe my experience in one small word, “Evone.”
Evone is the name of one of the orphans who challenged me, opened my eyes, and changed my life. Only about four feet tall, eight years old, and a shy disposition, Evone made this trip to Kenya something I can never forget.
You see, Evone’s entire English vocabulary consists of yes, we are fine, hairbrush, school, and football. My Swahili vocabulary consists of football and rafiki, meaning friend, which I know thanks to Disney’s The Lion King.
Although we could not use our mouths to communicate, we could use pictures, hand motions, facial expressions, and laughter. Most evenings you would find Evone sitting next to me on my bed either brushing my hair or drawing pictures. In what I would consider a terrible interpretation of my family through hand-drawn pictures, she could understand. We would sit next to each other swapping pictures and that is how we communicated. As all of the other girls were around singing, dancing, doing homework, or mopping—as they often do, Evone and I were busy ourselves.
I have loved watching her little quirks and inexplicable need to straighten her bed every time she walks by. This little Kenyan girl who has seen so much loss and has already experienced heartache in her short life will have forever impacted mine. Evone taught me that a simple smile or a few stick figures on a piece of paper can say more than words will ever have to.
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