“Play gives children the chance to practice what they are learning.”
Fred Rogers
Play. One of our centers sent us some pictures yesterday that struck deep in my soul. They were not fancy or polished, they were not heralding any huge success. Just pictures of an ordinary weekend at Macecall Children’s Home in Kenya.
Children playing house with their treasures.
These are such simple scenes. What struck me was the peace in their faces and the gentleness in the interactions. I noticed it when we visited Macecall.
I remember thinking, “These children understand tenderness.”
This doesn’t just happen. The children at Macecall are from very high trauma situations. Their stories hold chapters where home was deemed unsafe…and yet here they are spending their day playing house, gently passing the one doll they own back and forth for caretaking. In a world where food is hard won, they are lining up their little bottlecaps and cups to play kitchen.
Looking at these pictures, Margaret (one of the Directors) words ring in my ears,
” When they come to Macecall, we tell them that they have found home. They are scared but we tell them you are safe, there is a better way. The other children teach them how to love.”
These pictures are able to happen because of the dedication of the Macecall team. Lives poured out, fervent prayers prayed so that these children can know peace, can know love, can know joy.
It happens because of countless nights where staff stay up with scared children. Where every inch of ground that can be farmed is used to help grow crops so little children can know the safety of always having food. It comes from conversations about what the center can do without so that the kids can go to school.
Time and time again, these sweet kids then turn around and hand that love to the next child, and the next, and the next. Decades of lives changed and so many more to come.
Want to be a part of the story of Macecall Children’s Home?
