F.Y.I

I had the Amish french toast and it was just as I thought it would be......AWESOME!!!!!! (check a previous blog post referring to Amish french toast for reference).

Forced to grow up fast

These past few weeks I have been both witness and participant in what is at the same time a story of sadness and inspiration. As I've stated previously the people face seemingly insurmountable odds to lift themselves out of the dire situations that they are in. To the best of my knowledge we are the only NGO working in a slum which is home to an estimated 7000 people, and it is often hard to maintain hope as we have people coming to us on a daily basis with issues that we don't always have the capacity to address. However, there is a family of four children that we sponsor that have reminded me of the hope that is very much alive among the people. The children don't have a father and their mother fell ill nearly a month ago and has gone back to the village for traditional treatment. This often happens either because the family cannot afford the hospital bills, or because they are near death so they go back to the village to die. In any event, the children have been left at home all alone. The oldest child is 13 and the youngest is 4, yet everyday the children wake up and get themselves ready to go to school which starts at 7:30. The youngest child attends the nursery at our offices and we keep him there until the older children come for him after 4 in the afternoon. We make sure of course that we closely monitor their situation as they have not heard a word as to the health of their mother since she went back to the village. Before the mother left she made sure they had enough food to last them a while, and we also make sure the children are not going hungry. I am truly amazed by these children and their determination, and perseverance to endure such hardships and yet carry on going to school. I can't imagine any 13 year old at home that would be able to do such a thing. I know I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have had a clue how to cook for my siblings, and besides I probably would have been too busy watching TV to care less about making sure my siblings went to school. I can't imagine at the age of 13 having to be so responsible as to make sure your 3 younger siblings are washed, fed, and make it school on time. It is these children that we are fighting for. They really put everything into perspective for me. My only worry is what happens if their mother doesn't recover and she dies in the village? Then what? Often what happens is that relatives in the village will take the children in, but this might mean that they will have to drop out of school and lose their opportunity to pursue their dreams. I am of course hoping that their mother makes a full recovery and returns to them soon so that they can continue on with their education.

I just wanted to share that story with you all. It is quite something to see young children that 'get it', that value their education, that are determined not to let obstacles, no matter how big, stop them from achieving their goals.