Diane Beverley

sharingiscaring464

I never planned on becoming a mother to 35 souls. It all started with a small child. His name was Musa. I found him sitting all alone by the roadside in our village, holding an empty plastic bottle. He had no shoes. He had no family. There was dust on his cheeks and hunger in his eyes. He wasn't crying. Orphans forget how to cry after a while. I asked him, "Are you waiting for someone?" He nodded. "Everyone has left." I couldn't sleep that night. Because I knew that feeling. There is no borehole in our village; we drink the same brown water the animals drink. When you go to sleep hungry, you wake up weaker. When you have no one, silence is the loudest sound in the world. I don't like seeing people go hungry. I don't like seeing elderly people with nowhere to lay their heads. I don't like watching a child come to believe they have been forgotten. So, I brought Musa home. Then came Aisha, then the twins Grace and Godfrey, and then Mama Nambi, who used to sleep outside the market. They came one by one. Now, I have 30 orphans and 5 elderly people who call me "Mother." I am the director of the "Sharing is Caring" Community-Based Organization. But titles mean nothing when there is no food. For now, I am the only sponsor. Most days, my pockets are empty. Sometimes, we all share a single meal. Sometimes, the children drink dirty water, and I pray they don't get sick. But I refuse to give up on them. Because I started this for one reason: *I never wanted another child to feel as lonely as Musa did on that road.* I wanted orphans to have a mother. I wanted the elderly to have a daughter. I wanted those who are hungry to have someone who sees them. I might not have enough money. We are still in need of food, clean water, and schoolbooks. But we have each other. And every morning, when thirty children run up, hug me, and call me "Mother," I remember why I started. I am not a hero. I am simply a woman from a village without a well—someone who decided that love is something we can share, even when we have nothing else. *Sharing is Caring* is not my organization. It is the promise I made to Musa. And to every child still waiting by the roadside.