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On my latest trip to Egypt something happened
that I would like to share with you. This incident
is based on my belief that the children of the world
are mine and yours.
One morning as I walked to the souk (street where
vendors sell things in small shops) I saw a little
street person. She was only 4 or 5 years old.
This tiny child was picking up old, half-eaten
bread from the dirty street and eating it.
She was not asking people for money, she was
foraging for food. When I saw this, I knew I had
to do something.
I went over and, in my best half-Arabic and
half-English, I tried to speak with her.
The dirty little street child looked up with
beautiful brown eyes and stared at me.
She stepped back, frightened, so I took her
small hand in mine and walked along the shops
asking in Arabic, "Do you speak English?" until
I found a man who said, "Yes, why?"
I asked the man to tell the little girl that if she
would follow me to the nearest food cart, I
would buy her food. He asked me why I would
do such a thing for a beggar.
I told him that she had not begged me for
anything and she was eating off the street.
He told the little girl what I had said. Then I
asked him, "How much should it cost me for
the pocket bread with beans in it?" he smiled
and explained two pounds, or about 50 cents.
He walked with us to the food cart (I am not
sure if he thought I might hurt the girl or what)
but once there he told the man at the cart what
I was doing and helped me to buy three pocket
breads. I gave one to the little one and she ate
it as if she had not eaten for days. The other two
I put into a bag and handed to her.
She smiled a wondrous smile and ran off. The
shopkeeper smiled and went back to his shop.
The next morning on my way to the souk, the little
one was waiting. She obviously knew a good thing
when she saw it. I laughed and said, "ok, breakfast
again?" and repeated the action of the day before,
thinking that, for at least 14 days, this little one would
have breakfast and maybe lunch, depending on with
whom she was sharing the other pocket breads.
The shopkeeper smiled and so did the cart vendor.
We seemed to have become fast friends over this
little deed.
That night I got to thinking about my little street
urchin. She was so dirty and smelled so badly.
What else could I do to help her?
The next morning I was off to the souk again but
this time I had a bigger plan. As I came around the
corner, right on time, there she was, smiling.
I took her hand and went over to the shopkeeper
and asked "Where is there water?" He thought I
wanted bottled water to drink and I explained, "No,
I want a faucet, like where the people wash before
prayers." He looked at me like "now you really are
a crazy American!!" and then he showed me a little
side alley and there was a water faucet.
"Ok, here goes," I thought. "What will these people
think? But, oh well." I reached into my bag and
pulled out a newspaper and laid out a soap bar,
a wash cloth, shampoo and cream rinse (the kind
you get in nice little bottles at good hotels).
Now for the hard part: getting her out of her rags
without upsetting everyone. The water was cold
but it was the best I could do. So off came her
clothes and I started soaping her down. She wiggled
and squirmed the whole time but I could tell by the
smile on her face she loved having someone care
for her.
It took two soapings to clean her and all the shampoo
to help her smell wonderful. Out of my bag I pulled a
towel and dried her off. Then I pulled out a little dress
from the bag I was carrying. I had bought the dress
for a friend's child who, I decided, could do with one
less dress this year. This little one needed it more. As
I lifted the dress out, and she saw it, her face lit up like
any child's at Christmas. It was a little big but she would
grow into it.
Then I noticed something: a crowd had gathered. I had
been so intent on my clean-up job, I had not noticed.
Now I looked up into the beaming faces of men, women
and other children. The shopkeeper asked why I was
helping this child and my answer was, "The children
of the world are mine and yours. If we don't care for
them, who will?"
I told him this child was as much mine as if I had given
birth to her; that we are all responsible for the children,
and if one child went to bed hungry then we were not
doing our part."
He turned to the crowd and told them what I had
said and they began to nod their heads "yes." It
was as if in this single little act of helping this
child, a miracle had happened. I bent and wrapped
the old dress and the soap and things into a plastic
bag and gave it to the little one before we went off
to get her morning breakfast. Things had changed:
the food vendor would not take money and gave her
her food. We hugged and I went off to do my work.
The next day, I had many business things to do and
didn't go to the souk and then I became ill and was
not able to go to for five days. On the sixth day I
walked the street looking for her, and boom!
There she was in her new dress. Smiling, the shopkeeper
came running up and said, "Madame, I thought you
must have gone home." I said no I had been ill and he
told me not to worry, they had made sure she had food
each day. "But," he said, "each morning she would
set out looking for you for hours. I tried telling her you
had gone home and she would say no, and wait."
I asked the man if I gave him $40.00, would he make
sure she was fed each day; that would cover about a
year. He said yes and that others would help as they
felt Allah had sent me as a teacher to them. I laughed
and thought, "Spirit at work again."
The day before I left Cairo, I sat down with the little girl
and the shopkeeper as translator, and had him tell her
I was leaving but that she would be fed each day, and
I would try to come back next year. I brought her a bag
of fruit bars, soap, shampoo and a sweater much too
big but it would keep her warm. I gave her 10 pounds.
Where her parents are , I do not know. I only know
that one person can make a difference to a child. If,
each trip, I am able to touch a child then I have done
Spirit's work.
The children of the world are mine and yours.
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