Kathmandu, Nepal. Earlier today.
Flip flops and rubber bands. Inventive - a new game I've never seen before. The flip flops are the bat and the rubber bands all tied up to make a wee ball. Two toddlers have no 'rubber band ball' so make do with the head of a bright yellow flower. It flips and then flops to the ground. One picks it up and they try again.In Uganda the kids were really good at chasing rusty wheels with sticks. In Cambodia they had plenty of spare plastic bags to make footballs out of. In Jenin camp they showed no fear as they sped down steep pavements on trays. But never any flip flops and rubber bands before. Strange as most kids have a pair. With the exceptions being Darwin where they had two (theirs and mine) and Phomn Penh where they had half.
Flip flops and rubber bands. Inventive - a new game I've never seen before. The flip flops are the bat and the rubber bands all tied up to make a wee ball. Two toddlers have no 'rubber band ball' so make do with the head of a bright yellow flower. It flips and then flops to the ground. One picks it up and they try again.In Uganda the kids were really good at chasing rusty wheels with sticks. In Cambodia they had plenty of spare plastic bags to make footballs out of. In Jenin camp they showed no fear as they sped down steep pavements on trays. But never any flip flops and rubber bands before. Strange as most kids have a pair. With the exceptions being Darwin where they had two (theirs and mine) and Phomn Penh where they had half.
My hand is in demand. It is held and hugged. They play with my rings.They untangle (or try to) my hair tie from my bracelet. Like most kids they pull up my sleeve and compare their forearms to mine. They ask mycaste. 'I don't have one.' They look confused. Although without a family, not many of them will. I tell the darkest girl I like the colour of her skin, "Maile mon parcha." She smiles and then hides behind her fringe. I tell a 14 year old I had also lived away from home and from my family since I was 8. She asked if I had a 'sponsor',she asked if I had ever found my home - my family- again? She said she only found hers a few years ago. We agree this is her home now and her tactile friends are her family.A laughing little Asha (Hope) collapses into my friends knees. Giggling with tickles. Asha (Hope) is four years old. Asha Hope was born positive. To a 25 year old mother. A mother who was described as having 'a difficult relationship' with her giggling, positive daughter. Difficult because she doesn't know who the father is. Difficult because she is a 'reminder'...The flip flops make soft noises drowned out by laughing, the momentum distracted by dancing. So many little fingers, hands, long shiny hair and with every lingering glance a quick clasp of palms and a shy,smiling, "Nameste."HIV? You? 8? 4? 14? 2 months old?300 children. Unwanted, at 'rsik' or returning. Returning from across the border. 'Returning' to an unfamiliar institution. Safe-r. A 'institution' which doesn't discriminate against your caste, against your blood, against your stolen prostitute mother, against a tiny amazing SURVIVOR. Take my hand. Keep it. For now its all yours. Your lovely. Your amazing.
