A Resilient Girl Named Song

A Song of Resilience

“My father was a drug addict and it made him crazy bad. In fact, one day, he took a meat cleaver and beat mother’s legs and ran off. We never saw him again. I was really young at that time. My older Sis remembers more. Mom was at the hospital for over 6 months before she came home. She was never the same, and eventually, she ran away too. She just up and left us kids staring at each other with nothing to eat and nowhere to go. We’ve never seen Mom again either.

Someone helped us locate my older sister at the military camp so we moved in with her there and went into training as soldiers. Soldiering isn’t a very good life either, so all three of us snuck away and became deserters. We lived on whatever we could beg, scrounge, or steal, but it was better than the army. We heard about a home for children who wanted to go to school instead of fight. We showed up on their porch one day and they fed us a nice meal. Not long after that they arranged to take us.”

These are the words of Song, a polite and petite girl who has now been with us 6 years and is studying at a 5th grade level. She came to us when she was 7. She had lost everything and just about everyone in her life and knew nothing of kindness, tenderness, or care.

Song isn’t a great student. Maybe some of you can relate. School, in her opinion, is a good place to be social and dream the time away. She loves to sing and narrate and is pretty smart but just wants to have fun.

Growing up while fending for herself has its carryovers. For example, Song still likes to pinch others’ property, which can be rather annoying. She also loves beautiful things but hasn’t learned much about how to care for them since nobody ever cared for her as a child. She’s a beautiful thing herself!

Once, during a heavy downpour, she realized she had forgotten her school bag and books in the classroom. It was a Friday night and study hall hour had arrived. Song pretended to look up and down for her book bag, not finding it anywhere. Then she accused her friends of hiding it and created a big quarrel. Finally, the house parents had to step in. Mr. Yawn sent some of the boys tromping through the rain over to the school to look and, sure enough, they found her bag.

So you can see, Song is a handful. Her lady-like carriage, competitive spirit and her constant stream of chatter make her a unique package. She is a great little hostess too. We are grateful to have her as part of our community. She has learned to trust some of the staff and really share her heart with them.

You are the key reason we are able to help children like this –thank you! Project: AK-47 offers many ways to give a little that count as a lot for these children. It is you, our community that helps us to keep winning in the hard places.

Here are four ways you can help now: