At the beginning of the month, some of the missionaries here told me that each one of us would find at least one child at the orphanage who would steal our heart. Let's just say, I was a bit skeptical…
I’ve never worked with special needs people before, let alone kids, so I was nervous when this month began. And to be honest, those nerves were justified. The first time you walk into the orphanage, it is more than overwhelming. But as time goes on, my time at the orphanage went from overwhelming to quite enjoyable. I had a routine, certain rooms to be in at certain times, and I knew how to make certain kids smile.
Work was going as smoothly as it could, but then came Indian Independence Day. This is a huge celebration where everyone stays home from school, dresses in their best outfit and celebrates well, independence. When I arrived at the orphanage, it was a bit chaotic because all the kids who are usually at school during the day were there in addition to all the regular kids. But nevertheless, I walked through the gate, and went straight up the stairs to the office to put away my purse like I did every day. Then I walked back down and was met by the cutest little girl who I had never seen before. Well, her name was Jackie and she quickly stole my heart.
I don’t know what it is about her, but once I picked her up, I didn’t want to put her down. She has the best little smile and is a smart little one. I think we became best friends when I started tossing her (gently of course) into the air. Before I would toss her up, I would say “ready?” She quickly learned to associate the word “ready” with getting tossed, so whenever she wanted to go into the air she would look up at me and say “ready!” Let’s just say my arms became sore very quickly.
Not only is she adorable and a little genius, but she is also extremely impressive. Let me explain, Jackie is missing her right hand completely and only has one finger on her left. Both her feet are missing all but one toe on the outside of each foot. But Jackie can do everything. She runs around like crazy, will put her little hand in yours and pull you to where she needs to go, color a picture, and she can eat and drink on her own. I tried to feed her one day until she pouted at me and stole the spoon from my hand. I obviously should have known better, because fingers or not, Jackie can do everything.
Since Jackie goes to school during the day, I only get to see her on holidays. Fortunately for me, there have been four holidays in the past two weeks! So I guess my contacts were correct, I would find someone at the orphanage who would steal my heart.
