For my summer mission trip experience with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, I served for two week at the Mlali Rehabilitation Center for Children in Mlali, Tanzania. The children ranged in age from 3 to 15 years old and lived there full time with parents only coming to visit on occasion if at all. Our tasks in serving involved feeding the children, brushing their teeth, taking them to the bathroom (or cleaning up when they didn’t make it), assisting in physical therapy, putting them  to bed, and just being with them during the day.

It turned out to be far more than any of us expected, but we came to embrace the challenges as areas to grow and learn to love. I came to understand a deeper respect for the dignity of the human person and the power of presence in caring for others. In our free time with the local hosts that we stayed with, our team learned some Swahili, enjoyed communal meals and went on excursions including hiking a mountain, playing sports and going on a safari.

 
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