…I passed several groups of kids waiting for school buses. I remember being the one standing on the side of the road waiting - as if it were yesterday. I was in 11th grade, and the last place I wanted to be was in the States. I wanted to be in Cameroon.

Every morning when I woke up I would have this sick feeling in my stomach, a fear of making it through another day. The feeling was there while I was waiting for the bus too, so I would listen to my walkman. I remember one of the most comforting songs to me those mornings waiting for the bus was “Give me Jesus,” sung by “The Light.”

In the morning when I rise…
And when I am alone…
And when I am afraid…
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus.
You can have all this world, but give me Jesus.

And now here I am, back in the same town, but I’m on the other side of school now. I don’t wish I were back in Cameroon. I don’t wake up every day feeling sick about another day. But the song is still comforting.