The CRC is Growing by Leaps and Pikins!

CRC Resident Children, originally uploaded by Helping Children Worldwide.

You know how wonderful it is when a new child is welcomed into someone’s family? Well, just imagine the excitement at the CRC as 29 new resident children have been welcomed in the past several months, most of them this past summer. They are all shapes and sizes. Now 31 boys and 39 girls call the CRC their home. Most of the newest children are very young – between 3 and 8 years old, and some are biological siblings. It is wonderful to see the older CRC children taking care of and nurturing the younger ones.

Allen and I were fortunate to be at the CRC this summer when many of the new children arrived. Some looked like they were in a state of shock. Others were expressionless. One boy, I remember, was not feeling well and spent the next couple of days in bed.

One particular day two sisters arrived at the CRC during lunchtime. They each got a plate of rice with sauce and silently sat down at an empty table. I went over, sat with them, and welcomed them. They devoured their food without any conversation. I doubt they knew what I was saying to them. I wondered when they had last eaten, and what they were thinking. Were they scared? I was so happy they had come to the CRC with each other. They looked much younger than their 5 and 7 years. Children in Sierra Leone tend to be much smaller than our kids in the US, mainly due to widespread malnutrition.

Now fast forward to a couple of days later. I found these same little two girls laughing and playing on the CRC playground, which was full of pikins (pronounced “peekins”– what they call very small children in Sierra Leone). I know that children are resilient, but it is amazing to me to witness that kind of sudden transformation. It was the same with all of the new children. They became so joyful, so quickly when they were fed, loved and surrounded by other children.