The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.
Frederick Buechner
Cheers to another great year at Touch A Life. Reflecting back on 2018 and my time in Ghana there is a special moment I want to share that really stands out to me. The older boarding school kids were home on break this past September and the campus was busting with activity and joy. I was approached by Gideon, Jonathan and Bernard, who are some of the eldest students at the Care Center and the first TAL children to go to college. They requested a private meeting with me. We agreed on a time and met officially in the office behind closed doors.
These three young men have been in our program for almost ten years. I have watched them grow up from sweaty little boys to become amazing leaders at home and school. When they presented their formal agenda for discussion I could not hold back my smile and tears during this proud mom moment. My dreams were coming true for them.
My dream has been to raise up these children to become men and women of integrity and to give them a voice. I was overwhelmed with emotion watching their level of confidence as I listened to each one of them take the floor card. The beautiful part of this story is that I asked if they had answers to these problems and they offered well thought-out solutions. I realized at that moment they were free. They were walking in total freedom from slavery and they had found their voice. They did not call a meeting to ask for new shoes or a phone. They called a meeting to talk about making Touch A Life and this world a better place.
I remembered, right in the middle of that meeting, that I have the greatest job in the world. What an honor it has been to watch the Touch A Life program (and children!) grow organically and seamlessly like a Lego block project taking shape.
I look at these three young men with different eyes now. They are my future Touch A Life Board of Directors who will fight for the women and children of Ghana. They are the foundational blocks that will rise up and be a voice for the voiceless. Thank you, Gideon, Jonathan and Bernard for doing life with me. My greatest gift this season is knowing that I am interlocked and connected to something so much bigger than myself.
