Mamaloetje

· 03 Mar 2020

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Poverty is unfair

I'm scrolling over Facebook, innocent and aimless. Amelie and Alanis are walking behind me. Suddenly Laan starts crying, Amelie leaves pale.
“Girls, goodness, what is going on?”
“Is that edited? Mom, that picture is edited, isn't it?”
“No Amelie..., unfortunately not. These babies are really so bad...”
Alanis panics slightly, between sobbing I hear 'it's not fair' - 'this is not good' - 'this is not good'.
I turn off my phone very quickly and take Alanis on my lap.
“Girl, calm down. I can come up with very beautiful stories about it, but it's just true that a lot of babies die every day because they have nothing to eat.”
“Mom, how is that possible? There's plenty of money in the world. Nobody needs to be hungry, right?”
“No, sweetheart, no one would be hungry - if they distributed the money fairly.”
“Mama...?”
“Yes Laantje?”
“I don't like the world sometimes.”
“The world is not always, sweetheart. But you know what? You, me, us - anyone can make it better, if we want.”
“Mom?”
“Yes Let?”
“If we get in the car now and drive there, we'll take as many of these kids as we can. I want to share my bed and my food too. I don't need so much.”
“Yes, Mom!! Can we do that? We can put five on the first bench, then we can put two in the back and maybe a few fit in the trunk too - otherwise I'll sit there with Amelie, then maybe we can put even more in the car!”
“Oh, girls, you make me cry. You really have golden hearts...”
“Can we do that???”
“If only we could, we wouldn't be sitting here now...”
“Mama, Amelie and I will come up with something! We have to help those kids! I still have 1 euro and 14 cents, and I'm gonna save it for those kids. Led, do you keep your euro as well?”
“Yes, but maybe we can do more!”
“Sweetheart, let's sleep on that. You must come up with something beautiful...”
With a lump in my throat, I just put them on the bed. I can stick them behind the wallpaper sometimes, but God, I love them. #armoede #oneerlijkheid #oneerlijk #helpen #maakhetverschil #kinderen #kinderenvoorkinderen #verdriet #honger #delen #verdrietig #kinderpraat