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Apr. 27, 2007 During my last six-month stay in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, from April till October of 2006, I developed a friendship with quite a number of indigent young children, almost all girls. There are plenty of indigent boys too, but I preferred to help the helpless little girls. In fact, had it not been for the fact that I gave them daily gifts of money, they probably would not have cultivated my friendship at all. Nonetheless, I loved to see them and give them a moment's happiness. Later too, once I got to know them a little better, I bought them dolls, toys, clothes and shoes. Some of the girls had impoverished living parents. Others were half-orphaned. Three little girls I knew, Guaraní Indian girls, had a widowed mother, herself ill-educated and desperate. Three others had living parents, desperately poor. I knew the mother, but never met the father. Often the mothers were present when I was giving gifts to the girls. During the last week, I took all six of these girls for new clothes, which are very cheap in Paraguay. I clad and shod all six for about $100. Then on the last day of my stay in Paraguay, I gave gifts of about $10 apiece to each of the girls, under the auspices of their mothers. All told, in the six months I was there, I spent about $400 on them. I wish I could afford, I wish I were self-abnegating enough, to have spent more. Anyway, the day I left, I asked them for addresses where I could send gifts by mail. But none of them had a decent address. All I was able to get out of them was an instruction to send it care of So-and-So at Such-and-Such intersection. Sending money to a street corner in Paraguay strikes me as entirely futile. I gave them my address in Los Angeles, which is really just a mail-box at Mail Boxes, Etc., and asked them to contact me, but so far, 6 months later, I haven't received anything. The two ladies seemed not even to comprehend what the address was. Neither of the ladies was totally illiterate, but I wonder just how literate they were. Someone on this website posted a very derogatory article about an actress who gave preferential treatment to third-world children she had adopted, putting her own American-born child in second place. Of course, the authoress of the article was right in that the natural child should not be held to be less deserving than the adoptee. But I can almost sympathize with the actress's sentiments. Often when I'd be walking along the street with 3 or 4 of my needy little friends, some other girl in their age-group would appear, wearing new hat, clothes, shoes and stockings, appearing well-fed and behaving much more reservedly if not snobbishly. In such a case, my first thought would be, "Who is this privileged character? What's so special about her that she goes about like a princess, while my own little friends live in misery?" I would immediately correct myself of course, saying, "Well, it's not her fault, after all. She's is just a more fortunate little child. Would that my own friends could enjoy such amenities!" ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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