| On one of the sides three children
sat on a hill and looked down at the spectacle. On the other side,
six young children clung to the fence with their fingers, eyes as
bright and inquisitive as ever. And on the shoulder of the road
in front, four little ones had plopped themselves down to have a
look. None dared approach. Somehow they knew not to. I am certain
that not one of these children had ever seen anything like this.
Our hearts broke for these kids. We suddenly felt very uncomfortable
being there. We would have left if we had had a way home, but
that wasn’t possible. When a piñata broke, Roger and
I retrieved a couple of handfuls of candy. Stealthily we made
our way to the road in front and gave our loot to the kids there.
When the magical cake was served, we cut ours into cubes and put
it into the little hands that could easily reach through the fence..and
then gummy bears, chewing gum, etc. When the party was over, a
grandma gathered a bunch of balloons and a tall guest passed them
over the razor wire. The kids took the balloons into their huts.
It made things better, but it was just a bandaid.
So what is the answer to a situation such as this? Should Marcela
and Maria not have had their birthday party? Of course, they should
have. Every kid likes to have a birthday party, and the girls
are very young and innocent. It is very idealistic to think the
"outsiders" could have been invited "in" and
everything would have worked out. I couldn’t imagine an automatic
congealing of the groups. One solution might be the sharing of
our equity with the world. There are wide rivers between the "haves"
and the "have-nots." The poor do not have medical care
or insurance, nutritious food on the table three times a day,
education, etc. And they don’t have birthday parties. There
is no magic.
Gloria
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