The faces beaming with joy were refreshing (the smiles never get old). How do I begin to explain the energy as they sang choruses and danced? This is a group of young girls in their teen years holding and carrying babies, you could say children with babies. They are definitely a happy lot, having no care absolutely bogging them down. Or do they?
Wings of Compassion; a home for children with babies.
Being a mother must be a handful, I think. To nurture and harness the potential of a little soul is such a blessing. Childhood is a period of learning, becoming self-aware making mistakes and learning from them. What were you doing at 13?
Mixing childhood and parenthood is like learning how to drive a lorry on the job. I cannot stop commending the ladies on being bold to have their children (preserve life). Better yet, be part of the life of their children. What could a 13-year-old possibly know about motherhood?
Again, being a good mother has nothing to do with age, more the size of your heart. If you can love enough to know that you will do anything to protect and care for your children, little else matters.
The couple in charge, Mr and Mrs Kang’ethe explained that 80% of the cases reported are incest-rape related. I am not going to play the victim card but it’s worth noting that the girl is cast away due to the “taboo” committed. The easiest route to take would be? Take a guess….
How do you love and nurture a blameless fruit of pain and suffering? This question kept crossing my mind as I watched the young ladies carry the babies in their arms as they introduced themselves. Proudly saying I am mama…
It must have taken a great amount of counselling and God’s grace to get to this, I think. Mrs. Kang’ethe confirms that indeed the new girls have to go through pre-delivery and post-delivery counselling. “To have a mother and father with sisters helps in accepting the circumstances and embracing the change…” she passionately explains, “We as the wings of compassion are one family, we eat together and sometimes stay hungry together.”
They are dependent on the support of well-wishers and don’t have any fixed donors. “We depend on the contributions from the friends of wings of compassion,” she pauses to tell us how glad she is to have us as additional friends. “Mostly, this comes in form of donations for the girls in terms of clothes and food. Apart from financial assistance we also welcome friends who encourage the girls and pray for us.”
We gladly accepted the invitation to a friendship.
It is evident that the very foundations of the home are rooted in the couples love for the girls and their sense of duty to help those who are deemed helpless. The girls fondly refer to them as mum and dad. I am definitely glad to have met them. Almost six years down the line, they have seen girls who came in and eventually go out into the world able to be self-sufficient some even married. I can only imagine their joy.
In the midst of every word shared, I couldn’t help but keep in mind this declaration that the girls kept on saying.
“Somewhere in the future I’m gonna be much better than I look right now.”
As they get an education some in primary school, others in secondary school and some in college. I sincerely pray that they will grow to be women of valour. The incident that caused the tangent of their lives to change would become a positive defining moment. That it would cause them to find strength and courage, to pursue and achieve their dreams.
Finally, that somewhere in the future they will be much better than they look right now.
Audrey Kisia¦