Simple things... like a bike pump.

I watched this video at this blog today (and this site has lots of good stuff... I recommend adding it to your blog-roll) and it reminded me of an experience I had in Zimbabwe about 3 years ago. I give you permission to leave to watch the video and come back...

Long story short... I was part of a group that spend 10 days in Zimbabwe doing some survey work regarding future work our church would like to partner with there. This was early in the spiral of economic crisis that is the reality in that country. Anyway, whatever big plans and hopes I had for the trip, I was humbled when we made a visit to a school near Chivero. We took some soccer balls and a couple of pumps to be divided between a secondary school and a primary school along with some crayons and other such things. The teachers and students were ELATED. Huge smiles, jumping, clapping... The teachers had recently taught a lesson about crayons but had none to show the children (who had never even seen any). The primary school said they had a pump for balls and such but it had broken a while back and they didn't have any needles, anyway. The sheer joy that was spread by these simple things is hard to express with words. Now they had some crayons, some new soccer balls (so they didn't have to kick around some balled up trash), and a hand pump with needles.... this called for celebration!

Here's to remembering that what we might think of as small and insignificant can go a long way in bringing joy to our friends and neighbors (here and elsewhere). And, thanks to the video I shared above, for showing, again, how a single hand pump can bring about community in simple ways and be a blessing...

Have a great weekend!