Last week I fell in love with the kids here. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved being here and holding them and playing with them. However, last week two little girls at different care points remembered me. I have generally stuck with the older girls because I can talk with them, so they remember me fairly well. Last week though, I walked into Manzini care point on Monday and a little girl who I had played with the previous week came running up to me.
I sat down, in the dirt, and held her for a while. After a few minutes she began to climb all over me, balance on my legs and hang over my shoulder. By this time my skirt was (and had been already) covered in dirt. I’m used to it so it didn’t bother me. About halfway through our time at the care point, this little girl runs off for a little bit. When she comes back she again climbs on top of me.
Then the sweetest thing happened. She noticed her feet were dirty and my skirt was dirty. She stepped off my skirt and brushes it off with her hands. Then, she leans over and balances on me as she wipes one foot off, licks her hand, wipes it again and then steps back on my skirt. After that foot she did the next. These kids aren’t clean, I’m not clean, but this little girl noticed the dirt on her feet and the dirt on my skirt and didn’t want to make me dirty. Seriously, I was so touched by this gesture, even if it had no real effect on my skirt.
Come Wednesday, another care point, another little girl. This time, she remembered going down a slide with me. The minute she saw me, she ran up and grabbed my hand to pull me along. We got to the slide and she pointed down so I knew what she wanted. Once I sat down, she sat in my lap and we went down the slide. Repeat until Sarah is very tired.. but I had so much fun just playing with her and making her giggle.
These kids have nothing but they love unconditionally and show it in how they seek us out and even take care of us. Once they know a person, and how much we care (as evidenced by our return each week), the kids at these care points love us with no qualms or questions. That is a side of God’s love that I rarely see and it has been such an awesome blessing here.
Side note: much of the team has been sick this weekend and many of us are still struggling through it so prayers for health would be much appreciated! Thank you and God bless!
