As written in one of my previous blog most of these children come from very big families, and families that are underprivileged. Most of these families have to work hard every day so they can have an income coming in to support their family. The thing is the little ones are then taken care of by an older sibling. When I say older sibling I’m talking about a little girl named Janae
Janae is 10 years old, and has the responsibility of taking care of her three younger siblings who are 8, 6, and 2 years old. When first meeting Janae she didn’t want to participate because she had to take care of her siblings. I could tell she wanted to join, and a few times I asked if I can hold her littlest sitter. She just backed off and told her other sisters to follow her. I could tell they wanted to join but they knew better not to disobey.
It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes of free time on Monday that I watched Janae eye up the games that we had laid out for the other kids. I looked her in the eyes and asked her, “Janae can I please hold your sister so you can go play”. She finally gave me her little sister Kashia to hold while she went to go play with the other children. I could see the joy in Janae’s heart when she can be a kid and not in charge of her sisters. It had brought me so much joy to see her happy, and to just let go.
Now every day when she comes with her sisters she hands her little sister to me and she is off to go play.
Janae was sent to me, so I could watch her sisters, so she could be a child!
Janae and her sister Kenya
