On a chilly winter morn, hundreds of volunteers, sleep-deprived and aching from several hours spent assembling two thousand hampers the night before, gathered on the forecourt of a local council estate. Cheerful and in great spirits, our mission was to deliver food hampers to all 1,800 residents, in time for christmas dinner. Organised and executed with military precision, we were split into different groups, with team leaders who sorted out which block we delivered to, how many hampers we needed on each trip and then kept an account of each succesful delivery we made.
This was the inspired idea of Pastor Agu Irukwu, who along with the pastoral team of Jesus House, and Mrs Funlola Ojomo of the Novo Community Centre, oversaw the whole event. And what an event it was.......! Imagine being woken up from slumber, on a cold winter morning, by cheerful smiling folks and offered a beautiful hamper, containing a turkey, vegetables, mince pies, chocolates [my personal favourite] and everything else you need for a christmas lunch, and all for "free". How happy would you be?
This was the exact emotion displayed by the people we were blessed to serve that morning; amazement, gratitude, tears of joy, hugs and thank you's were just some of the responses we elicited, and it warmed our hearts. In one case some children even joined us to continue our deliveries, with their little two year old brother crying, because he was not allowed to carry a hamper, but he accompanied us nonetheless. Some residents were so thrilled, they asked to have pictures taken with the team, some even filmed us on their mobile phones [watch out, some of you may become famous on YouTube]. One lady even gave us a lovely tin of biscuits in response, which came in very handy when our own supply of tea and biscuits ran out.
Some folks refused the hampers because they didn't celebrate christmas, or simply didn't say. Others couldn't accept the turkey because it wasn't "halal", but were happy with the rest. One gentleman I encountered refused the hamper point blank, but he did wish me a happy christmas in the end, and for that I was really grateful. Afterall, that was the spirit in which the hampers were given, to wish everyone a very merry christmas, provide food for some people who otherwise couldn't afford it and demostrate the love of God in a very practical way.
I for one felt blessed and priviledged to be used by God in this way, as His arms and legs, just the same way the disciples must have felt giving out bread and fish to the 5000. I even carried some hampers on my head, something I hadn't done since the days of "fetching water" as a child. [those of you from parts of Africa will understand]. One and all we were tired, cold and aching, but not weary...... At the end we regrouped to take stock, pray and give joyful thanks to the Lord for such a wonderful time. Then most of us went on to deliver yet more hampers to the residents of another local estate. At this point I begged to fall out, as I still had some personal christmas errands to do. Later that night while chatting with a friend of mine, after having had long warm soaks, filled our belly's, and in my case had a foot and body massage [from a machine....... folks], we shared our thoughts, and all we could say was thank God for being good and being God.
By Christie Nonyelum Akumabor © on 23/12/07
No comments:
Post a Comment