At The Sanctuary Babies Home I wanted to leave behind some small gift so I gave the children flashcards – numbers, letters, words – to help with their home school studies. We examined the English words and their Luganda matches together. Watching how each child managed their small disarray of cards was interesting. Some kept then neat and organized and others spread then out all over the compound. But I only had five decks of cards so I added to that just one dolly. I thought the children would fight over the doll and asked whether this would be a problem. “No, they’ll share” was the reply.
Instead what I found was that all the children, except one, were more interested in the cards. Shakira, in her tattered shirt that hung half off her shoulder, made her way past the card-inspecting children and waited expectantly for the dolly to be delivered into her hands. Shakira’s big half-toothed grin was so infectious. She needed little help knowing what to do with her new doll and the others left her to her work.
God knew just the right amount of cards and dolls. Yea! I love that this is one situation where I’ll be able to see Shakira again and check on that doll.