Wednesday started off just like the week before. We (52 of us) were split into 3 groups for ministry. One group was cooking for a community lunch of us and about 20 kids from the slums, one group traveled to the slums to pick up the kids, and another group went to the soccer field early to greet the early bird children who were within walking distance. One of the best and hardest things I’ve seen while on the Race is the universal personality in the kids. They just want to be loved, chased, tackled, and given attention. I mean, who doesn’t love that? I love being able to see the joy radiate off of them as we play hot potato for the 50th time. Unfortunately, I’ve also witnessed the show of pain and hurt.
As we sat and played with about 30 kids in various games, there was one kid that stuck out. He was doing all kinds of impressive gymnastic tricks. From backflips off the wall, to tumbling combinations of 2-3 back handsprings and back tucks. He had energy like you wouldn’t believe. The energy was intoxicating. All the younger children looked up to him and tried to emulate everything he did. He was like a big brother to all the other kids.
After a while, I noticed an ace bandage wrapping most of his forearm. It kept falling off and coming untucked with every trick he did. He was very protective of it, he did not want anyone to see what was underneath. After debating several times, I walked over to him just as he happened to unwrap it. He showed me about 20 horizontal cuts going all the way up his forearm. I was heart broken. It saddened me that this kid that was full of life and joy, was being caused so much pain whether physical or emotional that he felt the need to cause himself harm. It was a hard realization to see that cutting is universal display of pain and suffering. Kids all over the world do this just to have some relief from the pain and suffering in their lives.
There wasn’t much time after he opened up to me but I did the best I could to let him know that someone cared for him. I recently got a tattoo that means “God is greater than the highs and lows” and this kid had a tattoo of his name wrapping down his arm so it gave me the opportunity to share my story with him. In the end, I gave him a temporary pen tattoo to match mine in hope that he would remember the comfort and love that God can give him.
We were told in training for the World Race that you won’t always see the end result. Sometimes your part in ministry is just planting the seed for the next team that comes along and that is my prayer for Kris.
So if you have kids or are close to some right now, give them an extra squeeze. Kids are the most precious things in this world and they need so much to feel wanted and loved.
Thanks for reading!
-Rachel
