The first time I met the children of the AFC home was SIX years ago. Six!
They were all over the age of eight (that was part of the point), but they were still little kids.
Some of them were VERY little; I distinctly recall that two of the kids (age 8 and 9 years at the time) regularly wore size 18mo. onesies with perfect comfort. That's what malnutrition and illness will do for you. They were little bitty bundles of adorable sweetness.
I remember that some of them had been SO sick. Some of them were SO sad. There was one little girl who hid under beds and behind doors for months. The home was pretty new, then. They were just becoming a family, just getting to know what a home felt like.
Some had never been to school, some couldn't read. Some had behaviors to manage as they worked through the fresh wounds of various traumas. They were a bunch of little kids from different places, literally, and in disparate places metaphorically too; all sort of precariously finding their way day by day.
While I've since spent time with those who have traveled to the states for medical care, and while I've never left the organization and the effort to stand by those kiddos as an international family of supporters, it had been six years since I'd been in the home or seen most of the children in person. Six years! There are now AFC kids who have grown into young adults and moved on. Like any young adult fresh on their own two feet, they come back to the home on weekends and for family events and holidays, and for dinner time to time. But they are out in the world nonetheless. Crazy how time flies.
For me, the absolute most wonderful thing about our whole trip to Ethiopia was getting to see the kids- not just because they have such an exceptionally soft and smooshy spot in my heart (and will forever). But because, as someone who volunteers on the other side of the planet in simple faith that the work is important and doing something good, it was monumentally gratifying to see that, yes. Yes, all the effort and support from everyone who gives to and works at AFC is doing exactly what we could only hope it would.
It was the best feeling to see the way each and every AFC child has grown into their own. The progress and change since six years ago is stunning.
The kids are healthy.
They have made leaps and bounds in their education that are astonishing.
They are all so unique and so sure of who they are. So much more than I would expect any teenager to be, much less these who have been through so much.
They are compassionate and kind and generous.
Not once did I see so much as an eye-roll when one of their pint-sized guests threw a tantrum or took the last of the pasta or snuck into their room and finger-painted with their toothpaste.
Impossibly, I had over a dozen teenaged role-models for my children, every one of whom I could not have been happier for my children to emulate. I went to bed saying little prayers- Please, please, let my Littles turn out like these ones when they are teenagers. Please let the way these AFC kids study and do their chores and treat guests and one other become impressed upon the little minds of my children and stick there.
Perhaps the best part was simply seeing how they had become so entirely and irrevocably a family together. They joked around and hung out and worked together and sometimes argued, and stuck up for one another just like any siblings anywhere. Sitting at the dinner table each night and watching them take for granted that this was their home and their family nearly brought me to tears sometimes. Yes, I would think. Yes. This is what we'd hoped for, six years ago, isn't it?
I'm not taking credit for this, by the way. The credit goes to the founder, who made this home out of nothing. It goes to the program manager, who is pure gold in the world of program managers. Some goes to the AFC volunteers and supporters and donors everywhere who make it possible at the end of the day.
And most of all, it goes to each of those kids. They are breathing examples of strength and tenacity and faith. They are the seemingly impossible ideal of what a human being- any human being- can make of themselves if given the slightest opportunity.
They are- in a world where boston bombers and chicago kidnappers and hate crimes exist- my faith in the human heart and soul. My faith in the potential of the future.
I am so grateful to these children. What more important and valuable gift could be given than inspiration to be a better person, faith in goodness, and hope for my children's future? Knowing that the AFC kids are who they are out there in the world gives me exactly that.
It's a myth that the best role models are famous, old, and/or dead. The best one's I've found in all my travels, reading, and searching are always children. Especially these.
They were all over the age of eight (that was part of the point), but they were still little kids.
Some of them were VERY little; I distinctly recall that two of the kids (age 8 and 9 years at the time) regularly wore size 18mo. onesies with perfect comfort. That's what malnutrition and illness will do for you. They were little bitty bundles of adorable sweetness.
I remember that some of them had been SO sick. Some of them were SO sad. There was one little girl who hid under beds and behind doors for months. The home was pretty new, then. They were just becoming a family, just getting to know what a home felt like.
Some had never been to school, some couldn't read. Some had behaviors to manage as they worked through the fresh wounds of various traumas. They were a bunch of little kids from different places, literally, and in disparate places metaphorically too; all sort of precariously finding their way day by day.
For me, the absolute most wonderful thing about our whole trip to Ethiopia was getting to see the kids- not just because they have such an exceptionally soft and smooshy spot in my heart (and will forever). But because, as someone who volunteers on the other side of the planet in simple faith that the work is important and doing something good, it was monumentally gratifying to see that, yes. Yes, all the effort and support from everyone who gives to and works at AFC is doing exactly what we could only hope it would.
It was the best feeling to see the way each and every AFC child has grown into their own. The progress and change since six years ago is stunning.
The kids are healthy.
They have made leaps and bounds in their education that are astonishing.
They are all so unique and so sure of who they are. So much more than I would expect any teenager to be, much less these who have been through so much.
They are compassionate and kind and generous.
Not once did I see so much as an eye-roll when one of their pint-sized guests threw a tantrum or took the last of the pasta or snuck into their room and finger-painted with their toothpaste.
Impossibly, I had over a dozen teenaged role-models for my children, every one of whom I could not have been happier for my children to emulate. I went to bed saying little prayers- Please, please, let my Littles turn out like these ones when they are teenagers. Please let the way these AFC kids study and do their chores and treat guests and one other become impressed upon the little minds of my children and stick there.
Perhaps the best part was simply seeing how they had become so entirely and irrevocably a family together. They joked around and hung out and worked together and sometimes argued, and stuck up for one another just like any siblings anywhere. Sitting at the dinner table each night and watching them take for granted that this was their home and their family nearly brought me to tears sometimes. Yes, I would think. Yes. This is what we'd hoped for, six years ago, isn't it?
I'm not taking credit for this, by the way. The credit goes to the founder, who made this home out of nothing. It goes to the program manager, who is pure gold in the world of program managers. Some goes to the AFC volunteers and supporters and donors everywhere who make it possible at the end of the day.
And most of all, it goes to each of those kids. They are breathing examples of strength and tenacity and faith. They are the seemingly impossible ideal of what a human being- any human being- can make of themselves if given the slightest opportunity.
They are- in a world where boston bombers and chicago kidnappers and hate crimes exist- my faith in the human heart and soul. My faith in the potential of the future.
I am so grateful to these children. What more important and valuable gift could be given than inspiration to be a better person, faith in goodness, and hope for my children's future? Knowing that the AFC kids are who they are out there in the world gives me exactly that.
It's a myth that the best role models are famous, old, and/or dead. The best one's I've found in all my travels, reading, and searching are always children. Especially these.
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