Love Through the Year!

My car was doing its best with the rough reservation backroads. My guide was leading me out into the more remote areas with the remaining Christmas stockings and gifts…bouncing and tumbling in the seat behind us.

We had already given out plenty of stockings to the children in the main village and now we were searching for more children in need of a merry love message.

Ahead a dirt driveway crowded with children came into view. I was delighted! It had already been a busy Christmas Eve, and I saw this young bunch as a chance to get rid of my remaining gifts and go home!

As we drove in, some of the shy children ran to hide behind the house, while others ran inside to tell their mothers. I wondered if they might be too afraid of strangers to even come and receive our gifts. But my guide was known to the household, and soon the kids and moms were surrounding the car with unhidden interest.

Once the lift-back was open, they were all enjoying their personal stockings and gifts with the glee and wonderment that would please any would-be Santa!

I drove off feeling good…until my Native guide disclosed that years ago the grandmother of children had sold their young mothers to men in order to get money for her personal drug addiction. That broke my heart. The scars of multi-generational suffering were there
beneath the shy smiles.

I knew I must go back…again and again. It WASN’T the childrens’ fault, and they deserved more than their single mom’s could manage.

So the photo is from our recent back-to-school Snacks, Socks, and Backpacks drive. The backpacks were too big for her, but she managed to come away with the goodies she wanted!

Please don’t forget her…or the rest of them!