Her name is Rhea Mae. She is nine years old, loves to draw, and has an air of quiet grace and joy about her.
We noticed her the first day we were in the village. It’s hard not to notice a child with scars like hers. It’s hard not to allow your mind to drift to dark places, the angry heat of justice rising in your gut, demanding to see her parents and understand who and what and where in the desire to protect the innocent.
But then you see her smile, watch her run, and see how the other children look up to her and you learn that there is so much more than her scars.
Yes, there is a story in the scars. A story of negligent parents who work long hours, leaving a young girl to cook and care for even younger siblings. And one night, her hand slipped while cooking rice, and the boiling pot of water crashed down onto her. Many days in the hospital healing followed, and now fully healed, she bares the marks of a childhood accident.
But that story isn’t Rhea Mae’s story. It’s a part, sure, but I know Jesus sees more in her than just her scars. And we do too.
Her story is one of kindness. All of the children in the village care for one another to some degree, but Rhea Mae sees the others.
On our second or third day in the village, another one of the children, Kristel, was crying on the ground. Before any of us could get to her, Rhea Mae approached her. She sat on the ground next to the little girl and rubbed her back until she calmed down. Ever the older sister, she brought Kristal to her feet, helped her put an earring back in that had fallen out, and dragged her back over toward us to play. This is one instance of a dozen we’ve witnessed since knowing Rhea Mae.
One of our favorite thing is to remind her she is a child, too. Kayla visited her home once. Her parents weren’t there, but her five younger siblings were. It is obvious Rhea Mae shoulders a lot of the burden of caring for her family.
But when she’s with us, we want her to feel like nothing but a child. We sing silly songs, and let her pull on our arms, and try to learn the games the kids insist on explaining to us in a language we do not speak. She laughs with freedom that we love to see; despite hardship and despite being older, she is not yet jaded by the darkness of the world.
And this precious girl is creative, too. She folds banana leaves into origami purses, bringing us these gifts with a gap toothed grin. When she holds a pencil in her hand, she sits quiet and focused, Hannah’s sketch book balanced carefully on her knees, the imaginings of her mind coming to life on paper.
We’ve asked around and learned that the school she attends does not have an art program. Sadly doesn’t get much time to use art as an outlet. So any chance we get, we, Hannah especially, will sit with her, provide her colored pencils and paper, and show enthusiasm from something she loves.
And this is the Rhea Mae we know. This is what we’ve seen playing with her and spending time with her around the village. We’ve barely exchanged a handful of words with her, but we learned early on that one English word she does know is “beautiful”.
Daily, we make a point to tell her she’s beautiful. She always smiles the widest smile, darts her eyes from us to the ground, and says “salamat” with her sweet voice. It’s one of the only times she appears bashful, but we hope to continue saying it until she can say thank you with confidence, believing it to be true.
Rhea Mae is the one who stole our hearts. It happened to us both at the same time. One day, we walked back home from the village, and spoke of how she stole it and how, despite all that we do not know about her, she a child we will never forget.
Lately, we’ve taken to telling her, “Jesus loves you SO much!” because our heart’s desire is to tell her we love her so much. And while it’s true we love her, we will be leaving her soon, but Jesus won’t. We want her to know that she is loved by someone who will always, always be there for her.
All photo credit goes to my dear squadmate, Hannah Erickson. She’s incredibly talented and I enjoyed collaborating with her on this blog project!!!
