“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.” Winnie the Pooh.
On Saturday, May 11 2013, we received our 1st Grace Villa volunteer ever. Ms. Susan Smith. Note: She was also the 1st non Ugandan most of our kids had ever said a proper hallo to! Not those “Muzungu hawayu” random street-side yells, but a for real hallo. We were excited, curious, & a-bit nervous as we prayed that a visit with us would live up to her expectations 
We picked her up from the Uganda-Rwanda border. Along with equipment to teach the girls how to build electric circuits (which was our favorite because it wasn’t typically girly) she also gave them 14 computer tablets, a donation that she had solicited from Datawind. By the end of her Introduction to Computing & the Internet class, these girls who had once asked me what a computer mouse looked like, now knew more computer stuff than some of us grown ups! The tablets opened up their worlds because she taught them how to actually use them. They learnt how to use search engines like Coursera, listen to audio books, and explore online tutorials like Khan Academy.
But most special of all, Susan became a friend. Their aunty Susan. Many many years have passed, but our children all know her name. Even the new kids. Because Aunty Susan is still solidly in our lives. Like when through her recommendation, our
Ruth Bahika was invited to give a talk at Harvard Law School ! Or how many of her friends in the USA now own & wear our Kikazi – by Grace Villa products! And so much more.
Dear Aunty Susan. For the way you are such a light to us many others, may your life in turn be filled with blessings, today & always. Happy birthday!