While there were lots of things that impacted my outlook on life while I was in Haiti, this little guy changed it forever.
When we arrived to the educational/feeding program that saturday, he walked up to me, and just looked up at me with his arms in the air, wanting to be held. I scooped him up, and he clung to me, as if he had never been held by an adult before. He very well may not have. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, I'm sure, the only shirt he owns. It was 95 degrees outside. I helped him roll up his sleeves which seemed to give him a little bit of comfort.
He rested his head on my shoulder, and the look on his face did not change once. He clung to me while we cleaned up trash on a hillside, when we sang, talked to the kids, played with the kids, and while we handed out food. Not once did he stop holding me with a grip which was asking me to never let him go.
Each of the kids was handed a "ticket" for their meal. He clung to his ticket like it was his life, and frankly, it very well may have seemed that way to him, because who knows when he ate before this, and I am positive he did not know when or where he was going to get his next meal. The whole time while I helped hand out plates of rice, with maybe a few beans, and a shred of chicken if they were lucky, he looked at each plate, I'm sure wondering which one was going to be his. I took a plate, and took him to sit down to feed him. He sat on my lap and let me scoop each piece of rice into his mouth, looking at me with gratitude, but also a desperation, a look that read as a wish that this plate of food would never end, that I would never let him go. He also got a small cup of clean drinking water, and savored every drop.
As I sat here with this child, I wondered what his story was, where his parents were? Was he abandoned? Did his parents get sick and pass away? How could a face this precious be alone in the world? How could a face this precious not be able to eat every day? How could he not know when he would get another small cup of clean drinking water? …and he is not the only one. How many other beautiful little faces are there that are in the same situation as him. I thought about the thousands upon thousands of kids like him, that life has treated so unfairly. I wished there was more I could do. I fell in love with this little boy in a few short hours. I broke down and tears began to stream down my face, while I tried to not let him see. I couldn't help it. While I was crying, another little orphan came up to me and gave me a hug. Another child that has literally nothing in life, was consoling me. We didn't speak the same language, but a hug, love, was all any of us needed at the time.
It broke my heart to let him go when it was time to leave. Thinking about where he would sleep that night. If he would eat tomorrow, or this week? What his future would hold?
I still pray for this little boy everyday, along with every other child in Haiti and around the world that are in his situation.
Please pray with me for these babies.