a 'lil sunshine

Sarafina is one of the children (the only one, now) who stays at the school because she has nowhere else to go. When I first arrived here, she was still living with her mom, but after a few weeks, her mother's alcoholism had deteriorated to such a state that Sarafina had nothing to eat, no one to depend on at all, and was left to wander around the streets of Mbagala to look for food. Dickson straightforwardly states that "if you are looking for Sarafina's mother, you should always go to the bar first, her home last." Fatuma and the other folks at the school took Sarafina in to live with them with no resistance from her mother. She has been staying here since then, over two months now.





















Making the story even more desperate is the effect that the entire situation has had on Sarafina. She's unbelievably tough and necessarily independent, and, if you didn't already know of her situation, you would have qualified her as "a little shit". She will push and hit the other children in order to solely maintain your attention, causing the other kids to cry. She is selfish and throws temper tantrums regularly.

After a couple weeks Ben sat with Fatuma one night and asked her how things were going with Sarafina. "I just don't know," Fatuma replied. Ben had noticed that, unlike the other children at the school, Sarafina never did any chores. Fatuma answered that it wasn't because she was new or too young, it was only that she wasn't worth the effort. She couldn't be handled. Fatuma didn't know whether Sarafina would be able to remain living at the school. What would happen to her instead? Who knows.

I say all this as if its the current state of things. Not so. This past month things have really turned around, and Sarafina has gone through an incredible change that makes it hard to believe she's the same girl. She does chores now, helping to clean dishes, etc, without a word (this "child labor" issue is a cultural thing here, the young children always help out with food chores, its part of learning how to cook). She shares, will even bring people presents (albeit strange ones).
Most importantly, though, her sense of independence has changed from something negatively necessary to positively empowering. She doesn't shove and scream at the other children anymore for attention because she's ok to play with the other kids, and will play with you later when theres less children around. She has transformed into a truly kind and fun little girl. And the reason why? Because shes been around this constantly positive environment of people who really care about her and want the best for her. Its that simple, and the results are incredible.

She's also very well informed

Don't get me wrong, though. Shes still a little shit. At night, she and I usually lay down on a mat outside and look at the sky and the stars, talking about her day at school and whatever comes to mind. She also helps me with my Swahili and will teach me all kinds of words for things around us that we talk about. Well, Dickson joined us the other night and I found out that ALL of the words shes been teaching me are completely made up. Every single one. That little witch.

I got her back, though. I now have her completely convinced that I am Spiderman on my days off.

She has no idea.