Monday, August 3, 2009

Babies Carrying Babies

The one thing that stands out to me above all others--the pictures that stay in my head and continue to break my heart into tinier and tinier pieces are the ones where children who should be carried themselves are transporting little ones, not more than a couple years younger then themselves.

Check out the pictures...


Two separate days, we split up into groups and ventured into the villages to spread the news about a celebration/outreach day. As we walked, the group of children would grow, and a parade of little Kenyans following big Americans would travel through the mud and thatch houses.

The children would clamor to hold onto a hand, many times settling for a finger--which would give us the privilege of walking with 10 by our side.


As we were walking, Nora noticed two little ones sitting by their house, with no adult in sight. This is what she saw...


Later, as we were walking, she noticed the same little ones walking along side of the group. Barefoot, big sister trudged along, carrying little sister, with eyes that have haunted me ever since. This picture is burned into my heart forever...

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Finally, Nora offered to help carry the little one.



Big sister never left Nora's side--and as hard as Nora tried, she was never able to get her to smile. The same eyes that you see in these pictures--eyes that tell untold stories that I can not even imagine, eyes that look old and burdened by responsibility stared back at Nora's smiling face.

These are the pictures that I brought back with me from Kenya...

3 comments:

lisasmith said...

Luanne--Just reading your Africa posts and seeing those pictures springs tears to my eyes. My mom went to Zambia last year and is getting ready to leave again next week and has said the same thing that once you've seen Africa everything looks different. She says she can just see more clearly now.

Amazing. Those are the eyes you will never stop praying for. ever.

Anonymous said...

Luanne, your word picture is incredible. I could not think of a better way to put the heart of what we saw into words. Thank you. Kristy

B His Girl said...

Wow Luanne, God has given you a tatoo on your heart. I wonder what He is going to do with it. B