From the time I was very young, I had a fascination with Africa.
A teacher witnesses the joy of a simple gift at a Nigerian orphanage.
Africa was so far off and exotic that it captured my imagination. Whether it was the National Geographics I read or the documentaries on television, I don’t know, but for sure, Africa was on top of my list of places to visit some day.
The first time I travelled to Africa, I had just finished my undergraduate degree in Geography and had the summer to travel. East Africa turned out to be everything I had imagined it to be and much more. The game reserves, the plains of the Serengeti, white coral beaches, and verdant jungles all excited me more than I could have anticipated.
But there was a darker side to Africa I had not foreseen—the brutal life many children faced.
Far too many children lived lives of malnutrition, abuse, and neglect, with futures far bleaker than anything I had ever seen in North America.
The images of the children I met back then stayed with me my whole teaching career and helped mold the courses I taught and the textbooks I wrote.
Finally, after I retired, I had the opportunity to travel back to Africa—this time to Nigeria. We stayed at a School for Widows and had the chance to meet dozens of young people, visit their homes and schools, and see what their lives were like.
It was an awesome and moving experience to be accepted by these average Nigerians and invited into their homes.
There were also several orphanages within a half hour drive of where we stayed and I was anxious to visit them. The group I was with had brought along clothes, personal items, and toiletries from Canada to distribute to the young boys and girls in these homes.
Orphanages in West Africa rarely received gifts of any sort and the young people had never received anything like this before. Many of them had been rescued off the streets of nearby cities where survival was a daily battle and no one gave them anything. That’s why the children were shocked when we appeared and offered them these gifts—no strings attached.
I feel I was personally given a rare gift—seeing the looks of joy on their faces as we handed out gifts to children who had nothing. My story is about one of the orphans I met.
Rob Harshman is a retired high school teacher. He travels widely and also enjoys gardening and photography. With his wife, he lives in Mississauga, Ontario, where he also has two married daughters and three grandchildren. Rob has been a contributor to Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He plans to continue writing short stories.
My comment is not on the background you provided, but on the story itself. Both of your pieces in Christmas with Hot Apple Cider are well worth reading. The bicycle one is quite amusing. I think many will identify with it themselves in a similar role or, picture a spouse in it.
The Best Christmas present is very touching. I admire the self-discipline and positive approach of the young man you gifted. Who he was, as he was, became a gift to you, and then, to us, the readers.
He obviously had impact. I’m wondering if you ever were in contact with him again.