Wednesday, February 27, 2008
When I was five years old, I have been to Tansania in Africa. It was the nicest holiday of my entire life. We spend the whole summer break there. We had a very nice hotel and the food was so delishious. My parents and me went to a safari, to a village were people made carvings, on a glass boat trip, to a crocodile farm, and many other exciting places. We spend a lot of time on the nice beach and the incredibel huge pool area. One day, my parents and me left the hotel to go for a walk. Then I saw a child who lost one arm. It was my age and sleeping under a newspaper. When we came closer, I recognized that this child was looking for leftovers in a trash can. This child had a fly in his eye and several wounds all over his body. At that point, I did not understand why this child was sleeping outdoors and looking for leftovers in a trash can. Why was not he with his parents in a nice hotel enjoying the nice foot and the huge pool area? When I was five years old, I did not really understand it but I knew that this was wrong. I was enjoying my life more than ever before and this child tried to survive on the street. I was looking at this child the whole time and child was looking at me, my nice clothe and the ice in my hand. When we passed this child he was reaching with his one arm to me. I did not have any money but I gave him my ice. When we left this child behind us, it was not the child that started crying, it was me. I was so sad than never again in my life.
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3 comments:
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing this! I remember when I lived in Brussels, there would be these women who would sit in the plaza with a naked, skinny child draped over their laps. Their hands were held out in front of them, dirty and empty. I'll never forget those children.
I imagine that is a very hard thing to see when you were so little, if I was in that situation at the age I am now I would cry. Things like that make me realize that I have so much to be grateful for, and one day I really hope that I can help children like that.
It is amazing how much experiencing a person living in extreme poverty rather than just hearing about their situation can affect you emotionally. My parents are professional photographers and over the past 15 years, they have been to several third-world countries. They tell me stories, and they blow my mind! But I know that I can't completely understand what they saw. That is really touching that you were emotionally swayed by that experience. I wish that I too could have that sort of experience so that I might better understand.
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