He stands at the
back of the crowd, hood pulled up, shadowing his face and hiding his dark eyes
in its depths. The other street kids jostle and rush, push and shove, reach and
grab for the new clothes – shorts, shirts, pants. But he does not take part. He
moves silently and easily through the crowd, his brown Superman hoodie and
dirty too-small jeans blending him into the mass of kids. Then suddenly the
rush is over; children have scooped up the last of the clothes. One of the
other girls on my team hands me the final pair of pants and I hold it out to
him, knowing he hasn’t gotten anything. He takes it with a small grateful
smile. I then watch as he asks other kids if they would like it.
The following week,
my team arrives to pass out mondazi and chai to the street kids for breakfast.
This time, still dressed in the dirty Superman hoodie and jeans, he sits next
to an older boy who has some sort of mental handicap, perhaps autism. It causes
him to shake and not be able to handle his full cup of tea or hang on to his
mondazi and other street kids try to steal them off of him. Marnell orders and
hits them away and guards his friend with great care. He holds all the mondazi
and hands them piece by piece to his friend. Each of them gets three; Marnell
hands his third one to his friend. His friend eagerly takes it and bites it,
smiling up at me as Marnell pours tea back and forth between their cups to cool
it. When the cup is half full, he hands it to his friend who happily guzzles it
down. As he finishes it, Marnell pours him more out of his own cup.
Later on, I’m passing
out a few more mondazi. Marnell catches my eyes with his and begs for one for
his friend. Amid the crushing arms and grabbing hands and pressing bodies, I
manage to pull one out and get it into his hand. He turns immediately and hands
it to his friend. I catch his gaze again and quickly slip him one more for
himself and his eyes meet mine with gratitude.
Lord God, how is it that this boy who has nothing shares what
little he has with another? I wish that I were so selfless and generous! Help
me to be more like Marnell.
