Every 2.2 seconds, a child loses a parent due to war, natural disaster, poverty, disease and other causes.
Tonight I did a presentation on a workshop designed to give ideas to caregivers to implement play therapy techniques with orphaned children who have experienced trauma. The presentation was to a small group of classmates who are all ECE's and I feel it went pretty well. A couple classmates warned me, "Caitlin, I hope you don't make me cry." and although I was successful at ensuring the workshop wasn't too emotional for any of my classmates, I left with tears in my eyes.
I have become somewhat obsessed in my experiences in both Jamaica and Romania working with orphaned children, and almost every project within this last semester some how incorporated the lives those children. I see their faces in every picture of poverty, hear their voices in every broadcast about war, and feel their heart anytime love is referenced.
Again, I state, every 2.2 seconds, a child loses a parent due to war, natural disaster, poverty, disease and other causes. In this statistic I recognize the children that I have played with, sang with, danced with, become angry with, and loved and it sends shivers down my spine. These are no longer statistics to me, but children.Children full of hope, adventure, and life. Children, full of innocence, wonderment, and mystery. Children full of potential, dreams, and curiousities. Children.
I hope and pray that I will always be uncomfortable by such facts and I pray that others will be aswell.
