Continued from…One Red Jacket – Blessings and Pain Part 1 http://morganmckeown.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=one-red-jacket
Thulane has been one of my favorites from the beginning. I know that you are not supposed to have favorites but I can’t resist. Every time I go to the Mbutu site he runs up, usually holding his baby brother, and wraps his arms around me, pressing his head into my stomach. I always rub his rough, short hair and ask how he is doing in Suswati.
(Thulane at the back of the hand washing line before lunch.)
I noticed his precious sweet spirit on my first day at Mbutu. Every time we teach a song or a new concept he is beyond excited, super thirsty to learn. He tries so hard to remember all the motions and do everything exactly right. Thulane is older then the other kids but can’t go to school because his mom doesn’t have the money to pay for school fees. Here kids have to pay to go to school which sadly exempts the poor from education.
Every day Thulane and his younger sister Eliza share responsibilities for their tiny baby brother Sandisne. They both have permanently curved backs from supporting another’s weight on their tiny frames. Sandisne cries all the time, he is extremely malnourished and will not allow his siblings to ever set him down. Eliza holds him about six inches from the ground and tries to comfort him. I’ve seen Eliza fall into the dirt while trying to hold Sandisne and sit down at the same time.
(Eliza holding Santigo, his hair is yellow because he is malnourished.)
Tuesday was our last day at Mbutu. I had recently returned from my trip to visit the team from NCCC and knew that the jacket they had given me needed to go to Thulane. It would dwarf him, but he could grow into it. After we finished presenting the Gospel to the kids and singing lots of songs with them, I pulled Thulane and his sister away from the group.
Through Nocolas our Suswati friend I asked both how old they were. I was slightly confused, it was a simple question and it sparked an entire conversation. Finally Nicolas explained, “He is saying he is three years old, and she is saying she is 1, they have no idea how old they are.”
“How is that possible?” I responded in shock.
“They have never been to school. They don’t know anything, how old they are included.” Then Nicolas gently pealed back their lips and checked out their teeth. He declared, “This one is around 9, the other is near 7.”
I couldn’t believe it! How was it possible for a 9 year old to have no idea how old he is? How is he ever going to make it in the world with out knowledge?
I asked Nicolas if it would be possible for Thulane to go to school. He said that if some one were to pay his fees he would gladly start the first grade. School fees are some where between $50 and $70 a year, not much to me, but insurmountable for a lot of Swazis. The care center that’s being built in Mbutu will eventually include a school, but that won’t be done for another few years.
Finally I explained to Thulane that I had a present just for him. I told him, “God loves you, and he knows everything that’s going on with you. He loves you so much that he had a group of Americans bring a jacket just for you. You matter to God, he has not forgotten you or your family and neither will I.”
(At Mbubu one of the cold days, Thulane is on my right. I have on a jacket and two sweat shirts, the kids were shivering so I was running them around to warm them up.)
