I noticed that along the drive to the school we stick out. Like a lot. It's not an odd thing to see a very fully loaded tap- tap go by, but when it's filled with 8 white women and 1 white 8 year old- we tend to turn heads. The first look from those on the edges of the road was like "what the....?" kind of a shocked expression, then eventually at times a big smile, or the blank stare, and most often the kids would wave at us and/or yell something enthusiastically. Main form of transportation in this part of town is either by foot, or motorbike/scooter. Totally normal to see 3-4 on a scooter at a time. I saw one man driving with what I assumed was his wife on the back, and in her hands were a crate of two dozen eggs. Hope they didn't have far to go.
We arrive at the school and honestly my memory of what that area looks like is sort of a blur. Just following the crowd I started to walk up a dirt path into what looked like a huge cornfield on the side of a tall hill. Steeper steps to get to the top- bright full sun and it is HOT. Humid hot. Like you just stand there and start sweating hot. Reaching the top we arrive at a small clearing and see all the kids- a flurry of navy blue and crisp white outfits sitting along wooden benches underneath a blue tarp. About 5-6 kids per bench maybe 8-9 benches total? Starting to do the math then getting distracted by the squeals of excitement coming from the kids as all 9 of us enter their "classroom". I noticed a structure of sorts with a door tucked into the corner and what looks like another classroom full to the max with kids inside. I assume this is where the older kids are but I can't see inside- as the kids outside look to be around 5-7 years old.
They all get up and swarm us! Hugs all around. Immediately I feel my arm get tugged down and a little boy grabs my hand and puts it right on his chest. Gulp. Lump in my throat already. I can feel his heart beating a mile a minute and my eyes begin to well up. He won't look up at me and just keeps his hand on top of mine, which now seems huge covering his little skinny torso. He snuggles in even closer to my leg and we just stand there. Then two little girls come and take my other hand. They are playing with my ring, holding my hand, smiling at me, and coming in for some snuggles too. Oh. My. God. Now I don't spend a lot of time with kids in my day to day life so I question 'maybe this is normal behavior in a group of children? swarming adults for affection?' but my gut tells me a maybe- no, and I think about how shy most kids are at home. I have never been on the receiving end of so much excitement to just receive touch. They were SO excited to just be held. We can even communicate. "May Re-le Staaaaa-cy."(phonetically spelled) I said it over and over. (Which is My name is Stacy- in Creole). "Bonjou!" (Good day/Hello!) Some of the volunteers in our group immediately scooped them up into their arms and the kids were in heaven- attached around their necks like how you would see a child holding onto their own mother. Oh my heart.
I sort of went into a little shock. This was by far the moment of the trip that hit my heart to its deepest core. I stood there like a statue, with all of these kids swirling around just wanting to have their hand held next. My heart cracking into tiny little pieces wanting to know the story about every single child there and what their home was like... Then realizing this is when you buck up. Swallowing the lump, coming back into the present moment I just started to love them up. Smiles and introductions, huge hugs, and hand holding. The girls liked to play with my hair and my ring.
It was starting to get chaotic, loud and the kids were getting jumpy so Amber started to play follow the leader to create some organization to our visit. Out we all went into the corn field which was about 20 steps away. After Amber lead us out to more open space, Megan stepped in. Megan is a pre-school Montessori teacher back home in Boston so this was totally her forte. The kids were immediately engaged- all eyes on Megan. For a moment I caught my breath. Then Emily hopped in. Also a total natural leading kids, her movements also incorporated sound effects... Beee-dee-booop-booop-booop. Again playtime to save the day. We weren't there for very long (as it was only during their recess time) so we gave another round of hugs goodbye "Au revoirs" and headed back to the tap-tap.
What was probably in total maybe 45 minutes? Total game changer. My heart would never be the same. Thank you to that first little boy. You cracked me WIDE OPEN.
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