A few days after we arrived here in Livingstone, I made two new friends, Precious and Judy.
(Judy is on the left, Precious is on the right)
Precious and Judy are both full of sass and laughter, but behind their giggles and tough girl facades, they are both broken.
They need the rocks picked from their hearts before we can plant some seeds.
In their beautiful faces I see hurt, desperation for love, and so many walls.
I can see the walls because I’m still trying to take down my own from when I was their age.
But a few days ago, I caught a glimpse of a part of these best friends that I had not seen before. We were walking to a nearby river on this skinny dirt path lined with rocks, broken glass, sharp weeds, and creepy crawling bugs. Precious had on a pair of worn out flip flops, but Judy was barefoot.
My heart ached for Judy as I watched her dodge her natural surroundings to avoid hurting her feet, but never once did she complain, which only broke my heart more. These children are all used to wandering barefoot, to them it is normal.
But then these two best friends exchanged quiet mumblings in Nyanja, and before my eyes I saw true compassion; Precious gave one of her shoes to Judy.
For the rest of our walk, they each wore one shoe to avoid the rockiness that lined the edges of the footpath.
Because I only know about a total of five words in Nyanja, I have no clue who brought up the idea of sharing shoes. But whether it was Precious or Judy, Precious did not even hesitate to help her friend. In a place where she has every right to be selfish, Precious gave up some of her own comfort so that her friend could have a little too.
But this wasn’t just a one time occurrence. Children who clearly are malnourished share their snacks without hesitation. Families share responsibilities. Older children share their futbol with the younger.
Even when they have so little, they all give so much.
And my question for you is, if you were in their shoes, or maybe even lack there of,
would you do the same?
– Mikayla
