As we were sitting in front of the Drop in Center before dinner last night we noticed a child, not older than 2, walking down the street alone. As hard as it’s to see it’s not uncommon here in Mae Sae to see young children walking alone or with another child but I felt really uneasy about this child in particular walking alone. The deaf boy at the center grabbed Kristina’s hand and pulled her down the street in the direction that the child was going. Moments later, they returned with the child. Dressed all in pink, covered in dirt, and missing shoes, the child layed lifeless in Kristina’s arms. We called Florance, the amazing woman who keeps the DiC running, and explained what we had found. She thought that the girl was another students sister and said that her mom would probably come by the center the next night to come pick her up. I couldn’t believe that a parent could allow their young child to walk the street alone, not knowing who the child was with or how they would eat. It disgusted me that a parent could abandon a beautiful child of God like this.
By the time we got to dinner she had woken up by still lifeless. After a few minutes I was able to give her water & rice. A few minutes later she was awake enough to eat by herself. She picked noodles off my plate and was starting to perk up. Knowing that babies do not wear diapers here I was cautious with how much water I gave her. She innocently looked up at me as I felt my lap start to get wet but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was love on her. Walking through the markets towards the house I decided to buy her a new outfit. Even if she was just staying with us for a night I wanted her to be in clean clothes. She started perking up more as we walked through the colorful market. She pointed at a pink pair of pants and spoke for the first time so those were her new pants. Kristina and I wanted her to have shoes but the only shoes we could find were yellow bunny slippers. We slipped them on her feet, she grabbed them so tight and off we went we bunny slippers for shoes.
When we got back to the DiC I started to change her and thats when I discovered the She was a He. Many parents here will hope for a daughter or son and if they give birth to the opposite they will still dress their child as what they wanted. That’s also when Florance discovered that this child was not who we thought and she had no idea who I had been caring for and loving the past 2 hours. Florance took him back to the market to see if anyone recognized him and we found out that he was from India and his mother owned a flower shop in the morning market but lived in Burma. So he came back to the DiC to sleep. I went to my room, grabbed my sleeping stuff and set up camp next to him. As I was laying next to him I was able to get him to smile and laugh. I pretended to tickle him as my dad used to do to me and he loved it. I woke up many times that night checking on him. I had just met this child but I was in love.
The next morning Florance took him out again to find his mom. When we found his mom I was nervous. She claimed that he was walking with his brother and must have wondered off. She said that it was his fault and that she was going to beat him for it. I was hoping that she was just saying this to ‘save face’ as it was her fault for him being alone. And off he went with him mom.
I wish I had a happy ending to share in this story but that’s where it end. I will continue to pray for his safety and I ask you to do the same.
