What I’m learning in Africa

8-30-10

I could really list about a billion things but I just have one story.

I have a little girl who I really really like. Her mother is a prostitute in our small village and her brother is very sick. He potentially has HIV but all in all they are mostly just neglected and malnourished.

She seems to latch on to me every time I’m around and I think that maybe is because I am the only person that shows any interest in her. For instance, about 2 weeks ago her mother was beaten by the local authorities for being out and doing her business and leaving the little girl, 6, and her brother, 2, alone and outside at night, by themselves.

Today I looked out the window and she is standing in my front yard staring through the gate. I naturally tell her to come inside and she spends the day with me. (She lives in town so at least a 20-25 minute walk from my house). I feed her and play with her and give her all sorts of fun things to do. We had a great time. She ended up falling asleep about 4 hours after she got there so I let her sleep. About dark Jarod and I decided to take her home. We walk her to town. Her mother is no where to be found and we tell her over and over to stay there. Of course, she doesn’t listen. She follows us all the way back home. I made dinner and she hung out for a while longer. Jarod kept saying she needed to go home but I just kept insisting that her mother would come get her. I knew she wouldn’t leave her with us. Wrong. About 8:30-mind you she is sound asleep on our floor for the night…she’s made a little bed, I decide he’s right. We took her a few houses down to her grandmother’s house and asked if she could stay there. They seemed bothered, but agreed.

My heart broke. I went back to the house and naturally had a few tears to put out. It absolutely broke my heart. No one came for her. No one checked on her. No one even wanted her. I am learning that children here are not children, they’re just products of two people having love or lust for one another. Most not even wanted. It breaks my heart. I can’t stand it.

The story doesn’t have a happy ending. She will go back home tomorrow to her mother who didn’t even bother to come looking for her and will continue to be neglected.