I think she was about eleven years old. She was brought back into the church hall by her arm. No longer tenable in the crowded Sunday school. She was placed in the front on one of the few empty seats, all by herself. Less than five seconds later she was already signaling backwards to her friend who had also been given a special place. In the minutes that followed, she continued to signal, despite all the actions of the adults. She simply didn’t think of what other people thought about the situation. I decided to sit next to her. She didn’t want to hear about it and turned around. A moment later she tried to signal again, but I was clear towards her and so she turned her back to me again. When I wasn’t paying attention for a moment, she ran back to tell tanchi[1] that she was going back to Sunday school. But tanchi was resolute, so she sat down next to me again, picking at a wound on her arm. I asked her if it hurt. “yes” she said. I said I was sorry. She looked at me and I looked calmly back into her dark eyes. She saw that I meant it. I asked: “What’s your name?”. “Sarah”[2]she said. I said: “My name is Erik”. She looked at me again and I looked back calmly. The pastor said “Amen” and told us the children would sing another song they had learned in Sunday school. She was allowed to join, and I disappeared to the back row again. As she stood there in the front, she saw me standing in the back. Suddenly she smiled and waved at me. And I, I smiled and waved back gratefully.
Many of the children from San Nicolas grow up without perspective and without parental authority in their lives. Father is not present, and mother works hard to make ends meet. Children are often alone and go from household to household, sometimes with grandma, sometimes with an aunt or a neighbor. One of the churches here has a kid’s ministry. Every Sunday a number of these children are picked up to come to church and Sunday school. We love coming here and we hope to make a difference by being there.
[1] Tanchi is Papiamento for aunt.
[2] Sarah is not her real name.
Image by Antoine de San Sebastian from Pixabay