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[figsposts]

Little loves

This title is inspired from a proposed Chicken Soup for the Soul book title, which I intended submitting to but missed the deadline, so I decided to write the story on this blog ( I may not have the title verbatim).

I enter the bathroom, two, four-year-old girls stop and turn their gaze to me, they don’t speak but watch in awe as I wash my hands. There is nothing special about me, I am just the principal of the Pre-Primary School. They stare at me until I leave the bathroom.

Every morning when I walk past the two to three-year-old classroom, they chant, “It’s Ms. Dlamini, It’s Ms. Dlamini”. They always spot me before their teacher does. She has to quieten them down to focus on their class activity, they will do this as many times as I walk past their classroom. The children at school show me love just because I am me. I haven’t done anything to deserve their love, they hug me, they tell me they love me. They brush close to me like a bunting cat, ask me questions, about my dog, I don’t have a dog.

Sometimes they dare to even slip their hand into mine. They show me their artwork with bright smiles, they want me to come and watch them water the garden during their Young Farmers lesson or watch them play soccer at breaktime.

From my office I have a view of the hall way, they peak at me on the way to class from the toilets, sometimes I engage in a face-off with them, for fun, they win, and I have to tell them to go back to class.

At home time they want to come with me to my house. They are not ordinary children, they are being raised in homes, for orphaned and vulnerable children. I have learnt how I receive their love, teaches them how to love themselves. If I push them away, the message they get is; they’re not worth the time, they’re unwanted, they’re a problem. I am not a psychologist but perhaps these messages are already imbedded in their subconscious minds? After all they are not being raised by their biological parents. If I embrace them. I am teaching them, they are valuable, they are worthy, they are accepted and loved.  

When we talk about unconditional love, we often think about the love parents have for their children. We never consider that children love unconditionally too. A baby loves their parent, they don’t care if you are a drug addict, liar or murderer. The purest love comes from children, our responsibility as adults is to nurture that love, a task never to be taken lightly.