The best part of the trip was deciding to sponsor a child through Dream 514. While clinic was amazing and God's hand was truly in it the moments that will stick with me the longest will be the times I spent with Sherlene.
Sherlene attends St. Martin's school which was in walking distance of the church where clinic was held. On Wednesday afternoon Lauren, Russ, Vic, and I walked down there in search of Sherelene. We found her in the school yard. I think it might have scared her a little that some random Americans at her school knew her name.
You see Sherlene and her brothers were recent applicants because their father passed about two weeks ago. I didn't know this when I chose her because I just wanted to sponsor a little girl and Jenny paired us together. While in the school yard I asked her if it would be okay if I sponsored her to go to school. She said yes and was very shy, which most of the kids are when you first meet them. We spent about fifteen minutes talking about what her favorite things are and telling each other about our brothers. She showed me her classroom, I gave her my address and told her how we could be pen pals. I invited her to come by the clinic the next day if her mom said it was okay. We said our goodbyes and the four of us walked back to the church.
The next morning I piggy backed on Abby's idea to buy some goodies for our kids. We went to Brodie's and I bought some toothpaste, a tooth brush, Disney princess pencils, hair accessories and a picture of us from the day before. It was my goal to make it back to St. Martin's sometime during the day to see her one more time. Thursday afternoon the clinic was slow so several of us went on a home visit where some baby girl twins, who stole the hearts of our group, lived. While we were gone Sherlene and her mom and two brothers came to the clinic looking for me. I didn't know this at the time.
After we visited the family, we were going by St. Martin's so I asked to stop to look for Sherlene. She wasn't at school. In fact the place looked pretty vacant because it was report card day. As we got back to the van and were about to leave I saw a little girl from far down the road that had on shoes like Sherlene's. I squinted but I wasn't sure if it was her. Then as we were about to leave I realized it was her and at the same time she saw our van and ran to greet me. She wasn't shy at all this time and we had another great visit. I gave her her goodie bag. I could see the thankfulness in her mother's eyes when she asked if I was Amber. Sherelene showed me her report card and she is a B student. It made me so proud of her to know she's a hard worker and to know that through this great program she has hope to take that hard work as far as she wants to.
It was the perfect way to end the trip. By the time we got back to the church the group was on the bus ready to leave. Those few minutes spent with Sherlene were the icing on the cake to so many wonderful Belize stories. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard planning this trip and those who contributed financially. Without y'all this wonderful memory would not be possible!
Amber Markham
One more thing...I see God's hand in pairing Sherlene and I together. I have been around those who are grieving a lot more than your average twenty year old and I feel that I can be an encouragement to her through this difficult time in her life.
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