All girls team round 2! Yep, time for team changes once again. My new and final team finds me traveling these last 3 months with Carmen Record (team leader), Samantha Allen (team finances), Bethany Eason, and Jenny Ellis. I am excited to be able to be a part of such a power house of women! First thing on our agenda was to go out and make a team memory. We decided to start the day off at the Mcdonalds for 12 rupee ice cream cones and see where God lead us from there. Little did I know that this would be the most memorable fast food outing ever….
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She was standing there the moment we got off the rickshaw. She couldn’t have been more than 6. Her filthy red shirt hung over a tattered and stained cream skirt. She was thin and her hair was tangled and brittle. The dirt that covered her body was visible even on her dark brown skin. She motioned to us and then motioned to her mouth that she wanted food. So without even a second thought I held out my hand toward her but she backed away as if afraid. I made the same “feed me� motion and pointed at the Mcdonalds. I held out my hand again and her eyes lit up as she jumped at the chance to go inside. Even though her hand was so small as it reached for mine, there was an sad desperation and strength in her grip.
I have never seen such a breathtaking smile on such an excited child as I did on her face when I laid out a chicken mcnugget happy meal complete with fries, a coke, a vanilla ice cream cone, and a small barbie toy.
She made herself completely at home with us as she ate her meal. I watched her. I saw her small fingernails caked with dirt. I saw her savor every bite of a meal that appeared to be a long time coming. I saw her smile and laugh and motion for us to take pictures of her with our cameras. I saw her pose and dance and giggle and play like a small child. I saw her soften and trust us.
She carried a small plastic bag. As she was eating I looked in to find a very tattered wallet. Inside the wallet was probably 30 rupees. I realized that she was one of “thoseâ€� kids. She was a “slumdog millionaireâ€� kid. The first time I saw this movie was in Kenya on a teammates laptop. But now… here… in front of me… was this little girl… hungry and dirty… carrying a wallet… that at the end of the day she would have to turn over to the men that owned her.
These men will take her money day after day. These men will beat her if she doesn’t collect enough. These men will exploit her and use her anyway they think will bring home a bigger profit at the end of the day. Right now she is small and cute and no person with any type of heart could turn away such a smile. But what happens when she is a bit older and no longer able to sell her cuteness? Will they brake her legs to make her lame or burn out her eyes to make her blind? Will they sell her to local men for sex?
I watched her and for a moment I could see she was happy. For a moment she was a child… just any child that loves to eat happy meals.
When it was time for us to leave she waved and said bye. She began to walk down the street and the whole time she waved back to us, holding her bag with her only possessions in the whole world – a tattered wallet and a happy meal barbie doll. I watched her as her tiny body was swallowed up by the business of the city. I watched her as she turned the corner. With every step she took farther and farther away from me my heart broke more and more. I couldn’t take my eyes off her until there was no more of her to see.
Being that we couldn’t communicate to her with words, we never got to know her name… we named her Julie.
My heart is overwhelmed and broken for all the “Juliesâ€� in this world. For all the girls that will never have the chance for any kind of life outside of this…
