In Haiti, our children’s class on Sunday mornings in Linda’s tiny back yard is very popular here and we frequently have more children than we can take. The class is interesting and fun for the kids, they learn how to treat each other based on spiritual and moral principles and the adults and youth working with the children are kind and loving to them, which doesn’t happen very much to children here. Yesterday three children from the closest tent camp came with the children from the neighbourhood area. It is easy to see which children are from the tents because they are always dirty. The other children never say anything to them about how they look, but the tent camp children themselves are very conscious of their own clothes and frequently rub at stains as soon as they notice the other children don’t look the same as they do.
One of the three children was a little boy whose eyes were covered with a film of white and it appeared he was going blind. Everyone, including the three new children participated actively in the class and enjoyed the activities. When it came to snack time, I decided to get a bowl of water and soap so children could wash their hands before eating. I set up the bowl near a place where we could pour water over their hands and where the soapy water wouldn’t be an issue for Linda’s back yard. When the little blind boy came up for his turn, some of the older children who were watching at the gate motioned to me to wash his whole body, not just his hands. I told them I would wash him later and after he finished his snack, while the other children were working with one of the youth animators, I took him back to the bowl, stood him in it and washed off his legs, arms and face. The look of joy on his face was incredible. He seemed to thrill at the touch of someone who was gentle to him and he was so happy to be washed that he kept scooping up water and pouring it on himself. Then with his wet arms he hugged me, and I put my two hands on his little cheeks. He held my hands to his cheeks and didn’t want to let go for a while. Then I washed his broken sandals and sent him off.
He ran happily back to the group but my eyes were full of tears. It is so sad to think that the best part of this children’s class for him was that someone cared enough to wash him. There is so much abuse of children here and many children are never touched gently, they are only beaten. This little boy deserves love and care just as much as any of the other children, maybe more considering he is almost blind. There is very limited water in these horrible tent camps and the toilet facilities are revolting. Certainly it is understandable that the children in the camps have problems getting washed. I have seen entire groups of boys naked on the street in front of a wash basin trying to clean themselves with the small amount of water available to them that day. The little blind boy had infected scabs all over his little legs and his stomach was bloated with malnutrition. I was heartbroken all day about him and all the other children in this country who should be loved, nurtured and cared for.
I think it should be the first priority of every country’s government to provide schools where all children can eat a full meal and have access to washing facilities and preventative health care. Along with that should come a free uniform for each child. Many children here can’t go to school because they can’t pay the uniform fees and they are ridiculed by the teachers if they are too poor to buy the uniform. The uniform is important because it may be the only good clothes a child has and it gives children a sense of pride to belong to a school, identifiable by the uniform. If feeding, cleaning and educating children were a priority for all countries, no child would be starving and everyone would be learning something. Countries could concentrate on improving the quality of their teaching and learning as a tremendously important next step. People will never get out of misery without these basic necessities. The entire future of society is dependent upon the care and education of its children and that is dependent upon a strong enough vision and volition to put a system of education that includes meeting children’s basic needs into that system. Cuba, under the most dire conditions has been able to achieve this. Japan after the second world war rose out of dire poverty by providing all children with a full, nutritious free lunch in all schools so they would not be too hungry to learn. Certainly this takes thinking about the agricultural system and the clean water situation. But problems can be solved if there is volition and unity of thought to address them. What will it take for humanity to understand this and put it into practice?
