Compassion

I am going to try to paint a picture for you with words and without pictures. All I ask is that you try to "listen".

There is a girl whose name is Daphka. She just turned 12 years old a few days after Christmas. She is solemn for a girl her age, a smile does not easily cross her lips. She has dark eyes that stare directly into yours, as if to communicate something about her life. She stands straight with her arms down to her sides and looks tough and yet vulnerable all at the same time, as if waiting for the next thing life throws at her. She wears a ruffly, outdated dress but one that was chosen with love as a gift for her.

Her life is different than most 12 year olds. She has a lot of responsibilities to help her mother with: washing clothes, cleaning, carrying the water for the day, cooking and buying and selling in the local marketplace. She attends school at the local development center, as well as her duties at home. She doesn't really like school but she tries very hard and seems eager to please. Her grades are always average.

Her father doesn't live with her at home. Daphka carries the weight of most adults on her shoulders as a mere child. She plays with her friends when she has the time, mostly games like jacks, playing house and running. But most of her time in her short life, has been spent surviving.

Daphka lives near Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake this week. Ben "met" Daphka through the Compassion organization when she was only a little girl of about 3 years old. He started sponsoring her as a single college student and then she became "ours" when we got married almost 7 years ago. We send her letters and sometimes pictures or stickers. She sends us letters and draws us pictures of flowers or shapes and always, always tells us that she is praying for us.

This young girl, that has lived a tougher life than many of us will ever know, is fighting for her survival right now. We do not know if she is alive or injured, if she still has a home standing. We know nothing. All we know is that our hearts are broken for her and the many, many others facing this devastation right now and that we are praying constantly for a miracle for her, for them.

My heart is so convicted over the many times I didn't write her a letter or show her more that we love her and pray for her more. I wish many things that I can't go back and change now. But I do know this, Haiti seems awfully far away and yet right here next to me is a picture of a little piece of that country, here in my home.

And I'm going to pray everyday for a miracle for Daphka and her family and the others in that far away country. If you could or want to, would you say a pray for our Daphka right now? It would mean the world to us. To her.