Girl effect... THIS IS MY GIRL!!

Do not read any more until you have finished watching the video below....



I saw this "girl effect" video at the medical mission conference I went to this weekend. When the video asked you to imagine a girl in a poverty, I immediately thought of this precious girl named O'Chelley. If I had a suitcase large enough, I definitely would have brought her home with me a long time ago.

Let me introduce you... she's pretty much amazing!! She lives at the orphanage we work with in Haiti. She is shy at first but once you get to know her, you will soon discover that she has one of the most sweet, gentle, and precious spirits ever. She is one of the older girls at the orphanage and is definitely the mother hen of the group. She ALWAYS has a little posse of girls following her around wherever she goes... not just because she is a natural born leader but also because she is so attentive to their needs. In the morning, she starts her day early with helping the younger girls dress,making sure all they get their teeth brushed, and their hair done(and everyday there is a HUGE line for her hair styling services). At meal times, she can be found feeding one or even two babies on her lap. The only time she is not focused on caring and loving her "baby chicks" is the 3 or 4 hours a day she attends school. I have seen her on several occasions with a lap full of children reading them "Amelia Bedelia" or a torn up "Beginners Bible". In the evenings before bed, she leads ALL of the girls in the most beautiful and precious song time. While GVCM employs nannies to care for the children, O'Chelley works equally as hard (if not harder) at the daunting task of caring for all 57 children. Although she is an orphan herself and has never been given the gift of a nurturing mothering role model, at the tender age of 9, she is the "momma" to more children than you could imagine. Like I said, she is pretty much amazing!

Driving back from Kansas City,my friend Belinda and I were talking about our some of the kids who stole our hearts in Haiti... and she has this brilliant idea of sending our little O'Chelley to nursing school one day.

A few days ago, I blogged about my first Haitian wedding and the heart break I felt watching the bride require assistance signing her marriage license because she was unable to read and write. And honestly I felt numb and overwhelmed... some issues in life are too big for one person to tackle. I can not teach millions of illiterate women in Haiti to read! But I can profoundly impact one girl's life who can profoundly impact another girl's life and so on and so on.

Knowing what I know about developing nations and having seen the devastation of extreme poverty with my own eyes, it easy to become overwhelmed at the magnitude of injustices. But there is so much hope for nations like Haiti because of girls like O' Chelley!!

Who is you girl? Who will you invest in? Don't have one.... it's no big deal, JUST HUMANITY!