It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to live in desperate poverty. To never, ever have enough to eat. To have maybe two or three shirts to wear, often dirty or ripped. Not to have any medicine when you’re sick. To have shoes that don’t fit your feet and hurt all the time.
I was in a demonstration in El Salvador—it was a large march along 10 blocks in the capital city with children dressed like butterflies or turtles---they were walking in support of cleaning up the earth. But I spent most of the march watching the little girl in front of me. Her toes were squeezed tightly into ill-fitting jelly shoes. Her thin, short-sleeved cotton T-shirt, with half the elastic around the top ripped out, hung loosely on her bony shoulders. Midway through the march, under a blazing hot sun, she whispered to her sister that she wanted water. But they had no money to buy even the tiny plastic bag of water sold by vendors. She began slumping under the heat. By the end of the march, she wearily sat down on the grass in a public park near the President’s home. She only perked up when I bought all the children from the Center ice cream.
What do you think makes a little girl like that happy? It’s the simple things. A clean place to sleep. A warm blanket when it’s cold. Enough food to fill her small belly at a meal. And knowing that someone cares. Someone like you.
It doesn’t take much. But a little kindness can make a world of difference to a needy child.
Hi Debbie, I read your articles and are great... thank you for the information, a good job for us, all boys and girls say thank to you for your support
Posted by: Carlos Diaz | June 30, 2009 at 11:50 AM