It is hard to believe that I just have about 8 more days in
this beautiful country. As I write to
you, I look out of my window seeing nothing but small lights from homes on many
of Kigali’s hills. There is a sort of
peace here amongst the chaotic traffic that almost feels, ‘home-y.’
This past week Hope Shines spent doing medical examinations
on all of the children that we support.
A typical ‘Hope Shines Exam’ consists of a small questionnaire, height
& weight, foot measurement, a hearing test, a sight test, your pulse taken,
and a consultation with our physician Stephanie Chu. Last year we started gathering all of this
data so we can better assess the children’s growth from year to year and make
sure they are staying healthy. You’d be
amazed at how crucial it is that we have all of this information.
I finally got to see Anna Marie at the examinations and as
we reconnected I glanced at her card. I
noticed on the questionnaire portion she was 9 years old, but only in Primary
1. I quickly grabbed the cards of her
friends and noticed that all of them were at least in P2 and some were even
farther along. Concerned I made a mental
note to try to figure out what was going on.
Towards the end of the exams I grabbed the ‘Head Mommy,’
Anastasia, and asked her about Anna and her studies. It turns out that Anna has only been at the
SINAPISI orphanage for approximately 3 years.
When the police brought her to the center she did not know how old she
was nor could the police find out. Since
she had no prior education, SINAPISI started her at Nursery 1 and guessed her
age at 7 years old.
After I got the entire back ground I understood that Anna
was doing ok in her studies, but is behind due to her situation. I still intend to try to reach out to her as
she knows very little English and is very shy.
Anna is the most introverted girl in her age range and I want to make
sure that she doesn’t get forgotten in the chaos of children.
As I write this to you I feel as if singling out one child
is not even fair. I love them all and I
don’t want ANY of them to get lost in the crowd. I guess that’s why I came back in the first
place.
It’s been so amazing to get to see all of the children a
second time and I know that this cannot be the last time. There is really something special in these
kids and I wish that everyone would come to get a taste of it. You can, just book a plane ticket and you
could meet these kids next summer. I dare
you.
It’s definitely worth it.
I can’t think of anything else like it.
I would never change it.
Chelsea
