Giving and Receiving Love

Like many places in the world, it seems that children, women and men do not have people in their life that show them that they are valued. That they are worth something. We were a little shocked that when the children of our new guard went back to high/middle/elementary boarding schools after Christmas break, there was little more than “see you later” exchanged between the parents and children. How different! We also see publicly that there’s a chain of command in hitting here. The older and bigger hit anyone smaller or younger. The youngest child hits the animals or the neighbors children. This is very hard for our family to understand and to be around! On the other hand, we have seen some parents in the church context playing with young children in a very loving fashion.

But in everyday settings, children are most often not acknowledged with greetings, especially girls (and women). My continual prayer is that these people could feel God's love and understand their worth. All I know to do besides praying is attempt to make each one feel special. I don't do anything big, but smiling at them, greeting them, waving to them, or playing peek a boo. For the children that I see often, a friendship has blossomed. When we see each other a big smile comes over our faces. I can be in my house and hear them saying my name outside. One neighbor boy always requests for me to sing. I always sing the first verse of the first song in the "Casa" hymnal – Holy, Holy, Holy. He is not from a Christian family and I figure that he is the one asking me to sing, so I will sing about our Lord.