34,

I never did love children. I thought they were all selfish attention seeking, insane little humans, I remember when my cousin was born, I kept as far out of reach as was possible, that meant even offering to go give the cows a graze in the middle of the day.


Yesterday I got left by the bus and had to wait another 45 minutes for the next one and as I sat there feeling depressed, I started to go through my phone and was completely lost in it, I saw a figure pass very close to me, then felt someone standing behind me, I looked up and saw a hand outstretched. A young boy of about 10 or 11 years was waiting to shake my hand. He said how are you, smiled and went on his way. It took a while for my mind to register what just happened and it brought tear to my eyes.
One my good friends is a little girl called Pyu li, I’m friends with the whole family, but it is understood that whenever I visit, I went to visit her. She’s wonderful, she’ll draw some lopsided butterfly and write-Cecilia, and give to me. She loves me a lot, that’s for sure and as much I didn’t know it, I love her a lot, the same way I loved a young boy who despite his age spoke a lot of sense and always cheered me up. He’d buy me chapatti and tell me about school, I listened, and replied in English since he spoke quickly in sheng(Kenyan slang)
So when another young girl came over and gave me a card and a lollipop last week, I couldn’t help it when I got home and read what she wrote,she thanked me for being her friend. I sobbed.
It is very easy to ignore children. You think- ah, let them go over and look at some plants or something, or they should go play with other children. I remember when I gave one of my children’s stories to one kid, he said- Sis . Cecilia, why don’t you look for other names for the characters. These names are boring.
I’ll write more for kids, it’s harder but it’s a happier pursuit.