So, yesterday we went to a place called the CAT. We did VBS in the morning and then went outside for lunch. After lunch we split into groups one to help improve the CAT and the other played with the kids. I was in the group that played with the kids. I sat down at a table with all the coloring books and this girl came and sat next to me. After watching her color for a while I started talking to her. She said that her name was Maria. I asked her how old she was, but I guess my Spanish was a little off and so she told me five dollars. I'm still not really sure what I asked, but I asked someone else to ask her how old she was. She is seventeen, two years older then me. I couldn't believe how youthful she was still. She was nothing like the youth in America. She found enjoyment in the simplest things, like coloring. Every time she had a picture to color she would ask me what color she should use to color it. We ended up with purple trees and pink faces. A while later I found out she had a two year old daughter named Miriam. Miriam was in the CAT as well. She was my age when she had a baby. I talked to Maria about her daughter for a while and she said that she didn't get to see her very often. In that moment I thought about all the horrid things that may have happened to her for her to be in the CAT. In the CAT most kids were abused in some way. She was young to have already had a baby. We played for about three hours. She had to go and shower because the parents were coming to visit the kids. After she had showered she came back in and gave me a hug. Maria cannot spell her own name let alone her daughters. I can't help thinking what will happen to her. I know going away from that experience I gained something. I hope that by spending hours coloring with her she did too.
P.S. It is summer so please excuse my writing. My brain shut down the moment we were down with school.
~MacKenzie Kaschalk
No comments:
Post a Comment