A little boy presented himself in front of me, arms outstretched. His bright yellow polo could not be missed and neither could the “hold me” posture he was demonstrating. So up into my arms he came.
It was not long before onto a wooden bench I plopped, realizing with little delay that upper body strength is not something I possess in great quantities. So he took to my lap.
When the children where gathered for name tag distribution I ran off to take pictures. Across the yard from my last seating position, I found myself looking away from the last displayed picture image on my camera and into the eyes of the same boy, once again, standing, undaunted, with arms uplifted and an impossible to ignore smile. Once again I lifted him into my arms.
In the span of a few hours Joy managed to steal my heart. His smile and laugh are infectious and he is such a quiet and content child. More than that, he has those irresistible expressive eyes.
Joy stayed with me until my duties demanded my presence elsewhere.
Sunday morning my feet hit the dirt of the church yard and Joy was by me again with arms outstretched, content again to while away the hours in my arms. He drummed along to the music and a few times jumped down to draw me pictures in the dirt – a child after my own heart.
When church dismissed he looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, threw his hands in the air with a joyful “Yay!”, gave me the “I love you” hand sign, and ran off until another day.
My little Joy… just another reason among many that makes me want to stay in South Africa.
