Welcome to America

I've been escorting Ugandans this week,
Hope and Julius,
their last names escape me.
I discovered they were home alone
after traveling long miles to get here
for Julius to speak at a conference
that turned out to be poorly attended.

Tuesday they spent the day with me,
and I saw America through their eyes.
I was proud of my country that day.
I took them with me to vote
and they were allowed into the room
and given a seat.
They waited patiently while I twisted and turned the rotary dial
to make my selections.

"We've been praying and fasting for this election for months,"
they told me.
"It is on the front page every day in Uganda."

"How many days before we know the winner?"
"We will know tonight," I told them.
"You will know before you go to sleep
and you will listen to two speeches - one from McCain
and one from Obama."
"Ohhhhh!!!" they said excitedly.

We headed for MD Anderson hospital and entered the parking garage.
"Oh!!" they exclaimed like children.
"We have never seen such a thing."
and when I parked on the roof they burst into laughter.
"Parking on a roof!!"
"I never heard of such a thing!!"

We visited Marcia Winkler Snyder
who was hospitalized for an infection
and getting the drugs via an IV.
She had a private room.
Again they were amazed:
"Twenty people would be in this room in Uganda!!
three children to a bed!!"
they prayed fervently for her
to the King of kings.
It was pure African, pure Pentecostal
Unusual for us Presbyterians,
but then they are not Presbyterian.

The cafeteria seemed overwhelming to them at lunchtime
so I took them to a Burger King
"American fast food" I told them
"very important for you to experience in America."
I ordered them a mustard whopper, fries and a drink.
They loved it.
then it was on to the Johnson Space Center.

"This is historical!! This is historical!!
Most people never come here!!"
Julius especially was wide eyed and childlike,
grinning from ear to ear and almost jumping with joy
when he saw the mock up moon rover,
the simulated stars in the sky,
the moon rocks,
the huge rockets.
He was impressed with the teamwork that it took
to put a man on the moon.
He loved the quotation from the plaque that the astronauts placed on the moon:
"We came in peace for all mankind."
Afterward I took them to Starbucks for lattes,
then home - a long trip because of the traffic.
Again, they laughed out loud when they experienced my GPS,
It was a great day.

So often we take things for granted in this country
"how disciplined we are" in Julius' words
"how orderly, kind and respectful."
"I have learned many things today to take home with me."

Every now and again
we make a difference in someone's life.
Tuesday was one of those days.
And it happened on another historic day,
the day we elected Barack Obama
the President of the United States.
I smiled when I went to sleep that night,
so very proud to be an American.