Operation Christmas Child recipient speaks at chapel
Alex Nsengimana speaks at Thursday's chapel
image by Mackenzie Borden
Last week, Lee University students took part in Operation Christmas Child, and the chapel service on Nov. 17, 2016 was focused on the impact that a shoebox filled with small toys and toiletry items has on the children that receive them.
Alex Nsengimana is a genocide survivor from Rwanda who received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox as a child. He shared in chapel how he grew up in a time of war in Rwanda and was left an orphan at age six.
It was 1994 when he received his first Operation Christmas Child shoebox.
“We were all screaming, not because someone was trying to chase us and take our lives, but out of joy,” said Nsengimana.
He remembers the hope and joy that the boxes brought to him and the other children in the orphanage and is said he is amazed at how many students participate in packing boxes at Lee.
Nsengimana now works at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Boone, North Carolina and has had the opportunity to travel back to the orphanage he grew up in to give boxes to the children there.
“I share my testimony to show not what I’ve done, but what He’s done,” said Nsengimana.
Lee has a goal of 3,000 shoeboxes for 2016. When this goal is met, the university will have sent over 30,000 boxes to children in need around the world.
“I think it’s great what operation Christmas Child is doing and I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity to be part of that,” Mariah Mcafee, junior, said.
According to their website, Samaritan’s Purse began Operation Christmas Child in 1993 and through gift-filled shoeboxes they “demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world.”
Lee University first began participating in Operation Christmas Child in 1998 with a goal to fill 100 shoeboxes. Since then, Lee has adopted the organization every year as a school-wide service project and has packed and mailed 27,591 shoeboxes.
“It’s not about the boxes, it’s about the faces,” said campus pastor, Jimmy Harper.
