a pretense

This Sunday, I got to spend my time with a group of children, whose ages range from six to sixteen, living at a center near our village. They were full of energy in all the activities and they wear their big smiles in every picture taken. Watching them was nostalgic, they were happy… until I learned about their life.

• A six-year old girl who has the built of a less than four year old one. She has difficulty in color and shape recognition. Some kids were picking up on her and were making fun of her drawing and coloring.

• Three siblings were simply abandoned at the gate of center. The youngest says she does not love her other sister and she is serious about it.

• Most of the kids do not know when they were born so they celebrate their birthdays at the time the center took them in. With this, most of the kids’ ages are just estimates.

• Some kids are battered by their parents. Most have been raped by their own uncles. Some have been raped and battered as well.

Sigh. I wish this kids have my the same life I have…

And they are just kids… kids who are supposed to be the ones whose only worries are what games to play and will they like the food their parents will be giving them for supper. Instead, they get to confront adult problems -- Dilemmas which are so much bigger than mine. And they get live with it. And they get by.

My life as a kid has been full of sleeping, eating and playing all day. Happy days with no worries! Today has been not that different, except working and studying has been added and sleeping has been lessened for play to happen at night. Happy days with a few worries! I would settle for that!