This Little Boy

I unofficially met this little boy when we returned to the orphanage for our second trip with the donations. I'm not certain I was allowed to take his photo but no one of "authority" said anything otherwise and I was snapping here and there with encouragement, so I just went with it.

I could have sat and stared for hours with him. Gazing into his eyes, I'm am without a doubt certain that I would have learned infinite lessons in our silence together.

To me, he epitomizes the children - his peers and cohort - in the orphanage.

So young, so innocent. Yet, far far too experienced in life.

His eyes, if you look at them - in them - they are rich, aren't they?! They tell stories we will likely never know...he may never share the words to accurately describe all they yield.

I look at him and wonder if his family (if they are still alive) have survived the draught, famine, crisis. I wonder if he remembers his mother's face - if he ever knew her. Does he have her smile, her hands, her joy or sorrow? Does he remember her smell and touch? (These are not things a child should have to try and remember.) What will he do when he "grows up"? Does he have much farther to go until he's "grown up" or, has the majority of that been done in what I guess to be these first three years of his wee existence.

That thought in itself will buckle your knees if you allow it.

I haven't mentioned the Crisis yet, in this space. Not for lack of realization or awareness of it's intensity or reality, but because I can honestly say I don't know what to say. Numb by the true depth of the devastation, I simultaneously realize and accept that it is required for us to all do something.

So tragic. Such destitution. In a country wrought with beauty...the country is suffering. (That doesn't actual touch the tip of the iceberg of the description of this current situation, does it?!)

{indigenous acacia trees

they are stunning...and grow by the hundreds in this part of addis,

just outside the limits of the airport's air/ground space where our friend lives}

Standing idly by doesn't do it. Thinking it's too far gone or there's "too much" to do isn't acceptable. I'm encouraged to see the government matching monetarily and relief organizations are stepping up.

Each little bit accrues. We can all do our part - little or large - to make at least some small difference.

Because doing nothing isn't okay.

Look at this little boys' eyes again. Deep. Look deeply into them.

We can't do nothing.