He looked out from behind his young mother’s full skirt. Monkey shoved firmly under one arm, he grasped a fist of material in his tiny hand. The boy watched as his mamma gently handed his little brother over to a stranger who seemed almost shiny in her fancy clothes. He wandered why she would do that but didn’t ask due to the thumb pressing into the top of his mouth.
For a 3 year old, the boy wondered a lot of things.
He wondered why his brother couldn’t walk and talk and play with him. He wondered why he didn’t see his momma anymore. He wondered why as he got older and faster, his little brother still couldn’t sit up on his own. And most of all he wondered why his little brother was constantly held, hugged and kissed while he stood quietly off to the side.
But the boy didn’t cry. Instead he loved his brother as well as he could. He loved him when the smaller boy got better snacks. He loved him when the younger got more attention. He even loved his brother when the little child got more personal toys and clothes that did not have to be shared.
And slowly, the older boy became a shadow of the younger.
He took care of his sibling without really being seen or heard. The boy was forgotten in the wake of his brother’s disability. So he tried to entertain himself.
He tried to read.
The boy seemed to need less help so the sponsors never responded. His lack of disability blinded him to those he needed most to succeed. And now, while his younger brother looks forward to attending a special school far away, the boy waits and wonders.
He wonders if someone would come along and support him too.
He wonders if he will learn to read.
And most of all, he wonders if he could be a doctor one day and help his brother and others like him walk too.
If you would like to consider sponsoring a child at the children’s home here in Swaziland, please visit :
http://www.elshaddaiswazi.org/
Many need the assistance and support that only you can give.
