On love and street kids

It's taken me a most of the time I've been here to settle in to life in Korçë, but I think that is finally happening. :-)

I've had 7 days at the day center for street kids and they are starting to know me better, even if it's knowing me as being mostly mute, since I can hardly say more than "yes" "no" "I don't know" and "stop it" -- yes, I am working with children and street children at that.

One of the things that has stuck out to me is how this center is different than some… the focus is love. I'm reminded of that every day as I pass by this graffiti around the corner from the center.

There are about 15 kids that come to the center, ranging in age from about 4-12.  They are all from troubled families, all spend much of their time begging on the streets or in the bazaar. Their stories are heartbreaking and I don't say that casually. But as Luke reminded me earlier this week (when I was crying over what little we can do for them) I am there because there is still hope. We spend the morning cooking and cleaning in the center and the afternoon playing games with the children, telling them Bible stories (the Albanian staff do that; there is no translator for me to be able to do that) and letting the kids each take a shower on their scheduled day.

One story that comes to mind is that of the littlest boy there. He comes with his sister almost every day and will do whatever it takes to get attention. On the first day I was there, his sister and I were putting together a puzzle and he would come by and mess up whatever we had just done, stealing pieces while he was at it. On the second day, he stopped and put two pieces together before messing up what we had done. The next day I pulled out an easier puzzle and he and I did that together. When I told him "bravo" for getting pieces right, he smiled at me - for the first time in three days.

I will try to post more pictures and more about what is going on soon.