Making a Connection

Last week my daughter was playing with her best friend over here at our house.  My daughter often chooses to wear fun costumes or unusual accessories, and this day she had chosen to wear an old pair of my gardening gloves.  She and her friend were talking and I overheard them talking about finding another pair of gloves so that they could each wear a pair.  (And just to be clear, there was no intention of gardening, or even weed-pulling, on the part of these girls - can you believe it??)  They searched for a minute on their own before I heard the all-too frequent "Mom!" which this time was followed by "Do we have any more gloves?"  Peeling myself away from whatever it was I was doing at the time, I went to our pile of gloves in the garage.  Not finding any gloves that would fit them, I told them that they could share the pair they had.  Both girls gave me a puzzled look, and that's when I remembered one of the books we borrowed from the library a couple of weeks prior. 

I invited the girls to sit down for an informal story time.  The girls sat mesmerized as a new world opened before their eyes, the world of refugee families who had fled Afghanistan to Pakistan.  In this world they met two young girls, like themselves only a couple of years older, who became friends when they noticed each other holding the matching sandal to the one they had each found in the scramble of donated clothes dropped off in their camp that day.  The girls in the story decided that instead of just one of them having the pair, that they would share them by taking turns, each wearing the sandals on alternate days.  "Four feet, two sandals."  Their friendship developed and deepened over the rest of the season as they passed the time (and the sandals) together while doing their daily chores.  In the end of the story, memories of a sweet time of sharing more than just footwear must sustain the girls as they are separated, one bound for America with her grandmother, the other left to wait in hope that her name will one day be on the list, and that the sandals can once again be joined in a pair.

Earlier this week the girls decided to play dolls, and they asked me if I would put Shola's head scarf on (see earlier post to find out more about this beautiful doll who is a young girl from Afghanistan.)  They hadn't played with Shola in months, but after I put the scarf on her head, I reminded them that she is from the same country that the girls in "Four Feet, Two Sandals" are from.  They ran over to the library basket, grabbed the book, and ran upstairs clutching it to their chests.  They came down ten minutes later and this is what I saw:

I overheard them later playing house, still dressed in their head scarves, talking quietly about "the war" and who was left in their family.  A short time later they were off again, their "head scarves" laying wear they had once been sitting, running to fulfill the next whim of their imagination.  I know it's a small thing, but I hope that this type of role playing continues to happen, and that empathy and understanding continues to grow in the hearts of these two young girls as their world continually, although subtly, opens up to the world of others throughout their childhood.

For other books set in Afghanistan and Pakistan, check out my recommend book list and click on each country name.  To open OUR eyes to this part of the world, I highly recommend Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson, the latter of which I just finished reading tonight.  I'm  going to venture on by reading I am Malala next.