Don’t Leave Them at the Gate
This is Melissa. She’s probably 11 or 12 and lives with her mother Gilda and her brother Pepe (pictured as well) in a small tent city in Haiti. I met Melissa last week when we visited her tent city. I said Hi to her and she walked right up to me and grabbed my hand. Let’s just say she had me at Hello. It was quite an endearing act, and one that is quite common in Haiti. Little children will walk up to you, climb into you arms and even fall to sleep. In Haiti it’s sweet; in the States we’d be horrified that children were left to fend for themselves with complete strangers. Welcome to Haiti.
Melissa walked with me all the way back to our compound, holding my hand the entire way. Then, my heart started breaking. Inside the walls of our compound is safety, clean water, plenty of food, clean beds, and hope. But Melissa isn’t one of the kids that lives there. She doesn’t have the opportunities that the 100 or so orphans who live there do. I couldn’t take her in with me.
When we got to the gate I had to stop and tell Melissa that she couldn’t go any further. I had to leave her in her harsh, hunger-filled world with little hope. I tore myself away from her and walked into the compound. It was gut-wrenching. Fortunately, I was able to go back and visit Melissa every day while I was in Haiti, and even give her mother some food and money. But in the end, I still had to leave her.
It’s times like that when I realize that I have more than enough. Way more. It’s times like that when I know that I would gladly part with any and all of it to help the Melissas of the world. Please understand something–Melissa cannot change her situation. She simply will not get the education, the care and training she needs to lead her family out of poverty. Her only hope is that those of us with more than enough decide to give away not just our extra, but our conveniences and perceived rights, and decide to change the tent cities in Haiti, the slums in Calcutta and the ghettos in New York.
Is that country club membership or that personal trainer or those regular pedis and manis really worth it when you think of Melissa? Let’s not leave her at the gate. Move toward enough and get serious about changing the world around you.
