Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Resilience of Children

I'd like to share some more about some of our kids in the Children's Home. We have three brothers at the home who have experienced more in their short years than many of us will in a lifetime. These three children definitely have spunk. They caused mass chaos in my filing system. You see I knew them as Allan (age 6), Ian (age 7) and Francis (age 4). When I went to pull some papers from their social work file I couldn't find them. I was puzzled as the children were obviously in our home. I had completed medical files for each of them. I finally found a file for Francis and saw that he had two older brothers named Bonyface and John. Turns out that the boys had changed their names!! So all of my medical papers were labled incorrectly.

Anyway, on to their story. Their father was found murdered in their house (I believe the children were with his body) and it is believed that the mother was the murderer as she has not been seen or heard from since that night. No one wanted to take the children in and they wound up with a housegirl who had two children of her own and was a single mom. These children are soo precious and so full of life. The other day Francis, the youngest, coverered himself with white chalk and walked around declaring mimi mzungu! (I am a white person!)

It is such a blessing to see the changes that happen in the lives of these children. They arrive often with only the clothes on their backs. Many are withdrawn and fearful. Within just one week you begin to see drastic changes. One girl, Gloria, had me concerned when she arrived. She refused to eat meals and would not make eye contact with anyone. Just two days ago I was at her house and she came running up to me. Chelagat! (My Kalenjin name) do you remember me??? I'm Gloria!!! I stop and wipe away a tear as I thank God for the way he works in the lives of these young ones.

No comments: