Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Every Child Deserves to feel Special

I am a firm believer that every child deserves to feel special. This trip I've. had the wonderful opportunity to meet the student that Paul and I sponsor through Northern Haiti Hope Foundation. His name is really long and hard to spell, so I call him ( as do his friends) Bareney. He is four years old and has big ears and a beautiful smile, but he makes you earn that smile. We have his photo hanging on our door at home, to remind us all that our family, as does God's family, reaches beyond our own four walls. But in his picture he has the saddest eyes and he isn't smiling and he looks so alone. And he is. His parents left him here in Terrier Rouge to be raised by an aunt and by the grace of God he found his way to St. Bart's. I brought a present for him. A gallon size ziplock bag filled with toys, candy, a new outfit, socks and new underwear ( a big deal down here for a culture that lives and breathes and sleeps and eats in the worm soaked dirt of Haiti.) So we sat and chatted, best we could while Dominique translated. I told him I wanted him to study hard... Very important in pre school of course. I showed him pictures of my own kids back home and he looked at me with those beautiful big brown eyes that still seemed so sad and they sent him back to his class to put his goodies away before the other kids could see them. I all of the sudden felt all alone. I wandered over to the children eating their lunch (same everyday) of beans and rice. Without a peep of complaint those kids chow down on what is quite possible their only meal of the day. I walked around and did a few fist bumps and made faces until I came upon my Barenery's class eating quietly at the end of the picnic tables on the porch. I had a second chance. I fist bumped little Lulu, my buddy here on the campus and smiled at my Barenery, still nothing. So I taught the kids that wonderful " Boom... Boom... Firepower" from Night at the Museum. It always brings even the shyest kids out of their shells. All the kids joined in and others were peering around the corner without falling off their benches, at that crazy blanco making all the noise. Without fail, after a few "Boom. Booms" Barenery was cracking just the tiniest smile. So my trusty friend Isabelle took a video of how Pastor Carrie disrupted lunch and corrupted the dear kids of Terrier Rouge. When I took the iPhone over to show my Barenery it was as if all the candy in the world landed in his lap all at once. His smile lit up. His eyes started to sparkle and we fist bumped and it was if we had known each other for years. Right there, with about 50 little Haitian children crowding in and clutching the iphone Barenery and I took pictures ...we made funny faces and stuck our tongues out and laughed and even hugged. And as the teachers were lining up the kids and literally peeling them off of the two of us, Barenery and I laughed. The rest of his friends went on back to class and we sat together in a type of sacred silence as he finished his beans and rice, quickly forgotten once he knew he was special too. How many times have you seen those commercials asking for help for a poor child in Africa and thought. ... "Well, that'd be nice, but how can I know I'm doing something life changing?". Here, you can. How do I know? Because I'm blessed enough to be one of those people that is slowly changing one life. You can too!

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