Inspired by Tears
One day I cried when a small Cambodian girl climbed up on my lap. Her older brother and sister were begging money from me. I offered them food and the older two grabbed the bag and began eating, but the little one climbed up beside me and with a deep sigh laid her head on my arm. She lay there content and safe for the moment until her sister dragged her away. I watched the three of them disappear back into the streets and wondered when this small girl would be safe again even for a moment.
Another day I cried in the middle of a slum in Mumbai, India. I had just left a tiny building that was home to 60 young boys. Seeing the boys crowded into the space of a typical American home was difficult enough, but it was the children still on the streets with no home that made me cry.
While creating videos for non-profit organizations around the world, scenes like these were repeated in Nigeria, Peru, Haiti, the Philippines and twenty other countries. I watched the children from behind the camera, but my heart longed to do more.
A few years later I cried again. This time I was standing in a village in southern Africa. Children were seated all around on the ground holding small plastic bowls filled with corn porridge and beans. Their little faces were intent as they ate, but as the bowls emptied shy smiles began to grow. While visiting my sister who lived in Malawi, she had taken me to visit a small orphan project. Started by community members who could barely care for their own families, the volunteers cared for children who had even less.
While I watched the children, my heart started beating faster. These were kids I could really make a difference for! I had accepted that I couldn’t change the world for the thousands of children I had seen in my travels. But here I had a personal connection. My sister and I began dreaming of joining with the Malawians who were caring for these children to make a real difference.
After years of watching children from behind the camera, I was ready to step out and take action. That was the beginning of something that has grown into a non-profit organization called Circle of Hope International. Today 250 children in central Malawi are fed, mentored, tutored and loved. Each summer we send teams of Americans who feel the same longing I did to make a real difference.
This fall we will open our second project in Malawi. While we continue to dream of helping more children and communities, I know that I can’t change all the lives of the millions of children around the world who live in desperate, hopeless poverty. But I also know that if only one more child tonight goes to sleep with a full stomach and hope for tomorrow, my tears won’t have been in vain.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the desperation of our world today, but the tears I have cried for children whose names I will never know inspire me. What inspires you?
After nearly a decade of roaming the world, Julie has returned to her native Kentucky. In addition to serving as Account Executive for Cre8tive Group, Julie also is Executive Director of Circle of Hope International, which gives her an insider's understanding into the needs of socially active organizations.