As I walked into the small hospital ward she was sitting on the bed looking out of the window. “She's only 5 years and she's very ill” said one of the doctors. She was one of three children in the ward two boys about 9 years and her. The two boys were laughing and joking but she just sat still and continued to gaze out of the window.
As we entered the room with the shoeboxes the two young boys excitement was uncontrollable, as soon as they received their shoeboxes they pulled out all of the toys, sweets and gifts and one of them began running around with joy. I couldn't help but watch the reaction of the little girl, as the excitement and joy in that hospital ward began to increase she stopped gazing out of the window and looked over to see what all the excitement was about. As she did I was handed a shoebox and as I moved towards her, the vacant look on her little withdrawn face appeared to change and was replaced by the biggest smile I've ever seen. This was complimented by her big brown eyes which were visibly widening as she took the box from me.
She then opened up the box, looked into it, looked back at me then ran out of the hospital ward. My immediate reaction was, “what have I done?” I then followed her out of the ward and observed her as she ran full belt towards a women sitting on a bench at the bottom of the corridor. She was shouting something in Russian at the top of her voice, I didn't have clue what she was saying to the woman, but I could tell by the tone of her voice and the speed at which she was speaking that she was extremely excited. When I eventually caught up with her, I watched as she emptied every item out of her box and even though I couldn't understand a word that she was saying we started to have a conversation.
After a few moments I caught the eye of the woman who was sitting on the bench next to us, she had tears running down her face. She then smiled and in broken English and a Russian accent simply said “Thank You”.
It struck me straight away and reminded me that these little boxes of hope not only touch the lives and hearts of the children that receive them but have an impact on everyone. I to this day still don't know who that lady was and what connection she had with the little girl but, the shoebox and the joy and excitement that was blooming from that little girl obviously made an impact.
It puts everything in perspective, we can travel on the largest plane in the world, have the greatest operational plan, have the “best” warehouses which are great and necessary, but it's the love shown from one person to another through any means that makes that difference and brings hope for the moment but God willing for eternity.
Steve Robinson