Family.
That’s a
powerful word.
What
do you think of when you hear that word?
Do you think of your parents?
Your brothers and sisters? Do you
see their faces? Hear them laughing? Are
you reminded of the time your sister borrowed your favorite shirt, then
accidentally spilled spaghetti sauce on it?
The time your brother gave you a hand-made birthday present? The time your parents pinned you to the
ground and tickled you until it hurt?
That’s
what many of us think of as family.
Unfortunately, that’s
not what everyone thinks of when they hear the word family. Not everyone knows what a family is.
I
work at an orphanage where kids come from all sorts of complicated
situations. Some were orphaned with no
family to turn to and no one to care for them.
Some were abandoned by the only relatives they have. Some have been passed from one orphanage to
another their entire lives. Some were sold
into slavery.
You
see, when you teach at an orphanage in Haiti, and you get to the part in your
curriculum where you talk about family, you have to go into it realizing that to many of your students, the word “fanmi”
(family) is an abstract – even non-existent – concept.
To
approach the topic of family, my class read books about different types of
families – big families, small families, biological families, adoptive
families. We discussed what families do
together and how you don’t have to be biologically related to be family. We emphasized the point that it isn't blood-relation that makes you a family. It's love that makes you a family.
After
one of our lessons, I sent the kids to their seats to draw pictures of what
they like to do with their families.
That’s when Jo (the biological daughter of two of the foster parents in
our children's village) looked at E (one of the residential children) and said
enthusiastically, “that’s my brother!”
My heart melted.
When
Jo looks at E, she doesn’t see a classmate who comes from a different
town. She doesn’t see a guest in her
house or just another kid who lives with her.
She doesn’t see an orphan.
She sees a
brother.
She sees family.
She sees love.
