World Hunger: Can One Cracker Make a Difference?
I visited the India Gate today.
My camera battery didn’t charge, so I started taking video, using my FLIP camera. And here’s what I encountered as I was filming.
Yes! Those are children. Tiny children. Tiny, begging children. In the middle of a park. Next to a monument. So cute. So hungry. So little.
“Do I keep filming? I wondered. ”Do I give them some money?” “Should I give them the M&Ms that somehow made their way into my bag. If my child were starving, I wouldn’t want him to have M&Ms, but they’ve got to be better than no food at all, right?
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I reached inside my bag, saw a couple of packaged crackers I had from my flight and grabbed that instead and handed it to the little girl.
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She madly tried to tear into the package, focused and hurried, and keeping it all to herself. The boys started inching closer, then tried to take the package from her. I thought there was going to be an all and all out tiny child brawl right in the middle of the park. My heart broke, realizing it wasn’t the typical (typical for me anyway) kids fighting over a toy they both wanted to play with—a want—but rather a piece of food—clearly a desperate need.
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I reached into the middle of the chaos and took back the package of crackers. All eyes were now on me. I opened the package, took out the two crackers, broke each of them in half, and gave each child an equal share. They shoved it into their mouths and downed it in 2 second flat. Then, immediately put their hands out, begging for more food or money.
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I squatted down on the grass to be eye level and hugged one of the boys. He just stared at me.
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I would love to think that a half of a tiny cracker made a big difference for these kids’ tiny tummies. But in reality, I knew a hug would go farther and while it may not change world hunger and it may not quiet growling stomachs, I hope it filled his heart in some small way.
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Oh Jyl, its heartbreaking! Your post brought tears to my eyes. I wish there was more we could do to help these children.
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If I actually stop to think of it – even for a moment tears come to my eyes. Unthinkable.
maybe it is because it is late, or maybe it is because I just can’t believe it, but this brings tears to my eyes.
hug all of them for all of us.
Wow. That’s so tough. I wish I could feed those little kids. They remind me of this little girl I saw in Mexico once. I just wanted to take her home with me. Crackers… we take them for granted here.
Oh Jyl – this is why I adore you!
Hey, This was usually a horrible site you can see in India especially. HEARDS is a NGO working in Chittoor Disrict, Andhra Pradesh for these type of children specifically child laborers and street children. We need many more NGOs to do the same work so that we can eradicate child labor and street children in INDIA.