Have you ever tucked a child into bed? If you’re a parent or you’ve baby-sat or perhaps you have a younger sister or brother, you know what I’m talking about. You pull the warm blankets tightly across your little one and tuck the edges around the bed, making sure they are nice and cozy. Perhaps you read a story or sing a song to lull them gently to sleep. You kiss their forehead and bid them goodnight as you lightly close the door behind you. Right?
Today I watched as Marianne (from Norway), one of my teammates with me in Master’s Commission Brazil, tuck a sweet little girl away to sleep. However, her bed was not a warm and cozy one at all. Instead it was the hard, cold, wet sidewalk of a third world country.
Marianne did the best she could to lay the sleeping child’s head against the cold sheet metal wall of the store we all had gathered under in attempts to avoid the rain. Ah yes, the rain, not to mention the thunder and lightning. My God, I have never been in rain like that before. The wind gathers the pelting drops and mercilessly slaps them against your face and body. The thunder shakes you to the core. Yet, Marianne held the child inside her sweater as we sang “Mighty to save” together for her. She was fascinated to hear the song in English and asked us to sing it over and over again.
I tell you my friends; this was not your average lullaby moment. When it was time to go, the little girl had finally fallen asleep in Marianne’ s arms. I swallowed hard to hold back the tears as Marianne laid the sleeping girl on the cold, wet sidewalk alongside a little boy, also fast asleep. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.
Guys, this is the world we live in! If no one will stand up and do something about things such as this, then how can we expect there to be a brighter day? – Sara Ribeiro, MCBrasil Student
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