On a Monday afternoon at the time of 1:35 pm, the year 1 business students of Fulton Adventist University received a confirmation email of their outreach to the outer district of Nadi town.
Upon receiving the email, I believe that I wasn’t the only one who was nervous of this trip as this was our first outreach together as a cohort to a place that was very foreign to most us. We were nervous freshman’s, who still weren’t even comfortable around each other. ‘How will we cope? How will we work together to make this outreach a success? We barely communicate with each other around campus so how do they expect us to get along on this trip?’ These were all the questions burning in my head at that time.
On the day of the outreach, which was a Sabbath morning, we departed the campus to our various outreach venues with the theme of ‘God is in Control.’ The nerves kicked in and everything became real and now we were standing in front of the church. The Sabbath program kicked off and to be honest with you, it went better than I expected. We successfully conducted Sabbath school right up to divine service. Finally, all is done for the day…..Or so I thought.
The next thing on our itinerary was to visit the local orphanage. I for one have never gotten the chance to visit an orphanage or seen what it was like so I did not really think much of it. I was excited to see the children but little did I know that this visit to the orphanage was bound to teach me a significant lesson that would change my views and perspective on life.
You see, when we arrived at the orphanage, we were greeted with the happiest children that I’ve ever seen in my life. So much innocence and so full of life. They greeted us with love and respect. After sharing with them a few bible stories, it was their turn to share their stories. Many of the children in the orphanage were either abandoned by their parents at an early age, abused or simply rejected by society. Their stories literally broke my heart into tiny pieces. At that moment, a rush of emotion struck me like a lightning bolt that was sent straight from the heavens. I was happy that they were in a safe place now but also sad and furious. How could someone do that to an innocent being? Abandoned? Left for dead? As their stories were being told, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own life.
You see, this experience opened my eyes to see that; unlike the orphan children, we are very fortunate enough to have parents and guardians that care for us so much that they give up everything for us. Even more so, we have our heavenly father who cares and loves us so much that He sent his son to die on the cross for us and that is evidence enough for us to believe and appreciate the love of God in our lives. Like the orphans, we may not have families that accept us, we may be abandoned, mocked and rejected countless times but as long as God is in control, we belong. And when the King of Kings, Prince of Peace and the Maker of the universe says that we belong: Nothing on the face of the earth can say otherwise.
The outreach to the local communities has not only caused the bond of our group to grow stronger but it has also opened our eyes to see that we are blessed to have each other as family; A family not by blood but a family of God. We belong.
WRITER: Junior Omen, A member of Victoria Park Seventh Day Adventist Church in Perth, Western Australia. Currently studying at Fulton Adventist University College in Fiji.