The Children

  On the way to the home of sick and dying babies a few days ago, I started to notice how different some areas were from others in the places we visited while bringing water to people, you could just see how poor they were and how terrible the places they lived were. Seeing the kids run up to us with bare feet broke my heart, they ran over garbage and broken glass not caring at all, and in other parts you could see that some people were better off. They had homes(small ones), better clothes and food. You could see they were not struggling as much, they had a nicer life. And then there were people who had cars, and big houses protected by big walls, and it kind of makes me sick. They are living in nice big homes while there are people not that far away living in terrible conditions.
  When we got to the home for the babies, it was nice, the parents were there, and I got to play with the kids, and I was happy. But when the parents left, the babies started to scream and cry. I had no idea what to do, I felt so helpless, I wanted to help them all, I wanted to hold them  and I wanted to make them all feel better. And all I could do was stand there holding a baby and try not to cry, and I finally couldn't hold it back anymore and I couldn't stop crying, my heart was completely shattered as I looked at all of the crying babies.

  Yesterday was a much better day for me. My favorite part of that day was going to Grace Village. All the children were so happy to see us. They ran up to the Taptap and helped us get out and held our hands. At one point while we were there, I made a new friend, a young boy who was around 6, when we were sitting down he laid down on my lap and fell asleep. I felt so special when he did that, I felt my heart melt, I was so happy for him and all of the other children there. They got to live in a safe place with food and clean water and a comfortable place to sleep compared to other children in Haiti, who lived in conditions far more horrible than I could have ever imagined. I recall seeing huge amounts of glass, human and animal waste, and garbage everywhere you looked, and children ran around barefooted in that not even caring or noticing the poor conditions they were living in.  

-Kennedy Keller