Joy in Broken Spaces

A few other girls and I began loading crates of bananas, oranges, croissants, sausages, and some other goods into the vans while I started preparing my heart for the culture shock my leader told us to expect. Driving in Craiova is mesmerizing. The old European architecture that resembles castle-like buildings from the movies always makes for a fun ride. An abrupt turn onto a littered dirt road opened the door to almost a different country. Around 40 children started running up to the cars, excited to see the new visitors. I got out to see a community of little shed-like houses next to a creek of the city’s sewage water. My heart immediately grew heavy as the children’s eyes looked up at me, hungry for attention and hungry for food.

We entered a small room watching all the children sit down in chairs. My eyes started to water when they all waved and smiled despite living in extreme poverty. They didn’t even know; they just sat and smiled. My sister Belle and I began teaching the children the song and dance “This Little Light Of Mine”, while the children’s giggles bounced off the small walls, and I started seeing them through the eyes of the Father; little beings of light in need of saving, in need of healing, just like I do. After some of the other girls told the story of Zacchaeus, the rest of us got the food together. Some people started handing out the sausages to the women in the community while I got a crate of bananas and two others got the oranges and croissants ready to hand out to the children. Ignorant to their degree of hunger, we asked our leader if the children would line up for the fruit and bread, but he looked, and he laughed. As the children ran out and saw the bananas, they tackled each other, trying to get their hand on the fruit.

The one banana rule I was told to try to enforce went right out the window as I saw the toddlers trying to reach being pushed out of the way by others grabbing clusters. I didn’t know how to react as the crate was being shoved out of my hands and I was pushed on the ground. Compassion overwhelmed me as I saw many of the children walk away empty handed. After the box was declared empty and people scattered, I saw a girl with nothing standing in the back, avoiding the chaos sadly looking at me in the eyes and giving me a soft smile. I saw one intact banana on the floor and ran to hand it to her. She eagerly accepted as tears filled her eyes, and I tried not to let those in mine overshadow my smile back. As we left the Roma community, the children waved, blowing us kisses.

The amount of joy these children exuded, combined with their lack of care, made me feel the Holy Spirit working in a way I have never felt. Jesus is reflected in the eyes of the hopeless because those were who he chased after in his ministry, the ones he came to save. My heart still hurts for those children, but I hope that we may be a part of the healing and an answered prayer. How rewarding it has been to be the hands and feet of Jesus.