A little girl named Pialo

Kajiado, Kenya is very deeply located in Maasai (a Kenyan tribe) land. Maasai huts are mostly mud and dung mixtures with sticks dried into the mud to stabilize the hut. The cooking is done in the middle of the hut over an open flame. There can be one or two small peep hole windows in huts, but many have no such windows and therefore, Maasai huts are very poorly ventilated. In Kajiado, Kenya there is a child care center (amongst other things) that takes care of children who are physically disabled. Most children suffered Polio when they were very young and still bear the consequences today. Some have spina bifida, some microcephaly or hydrocephaly. Pialo doesn't suffer under such conditions.

Pialo, when she was about three years old walked too close to the cooking flame in her hut and her skirt caught on fire, and she was badly burned in the accident. Her family brought her to the child care center, and she has lived there ever since, because she is of less value because of her scars and condition. She has a beautiful heart that wants to learn and serve others. She vaguely reminds me of Samwise Gamgee, the beloved hobbit from the Lord of the Rings, because she is never far off from another girl, Esther. Pialo helps Esther in and out of her wheel chair and takes Esther everywhere in the chair. They are neigh inseparable.

Though children in Africa were far more friendly and loving towards us wazungu (white peoples) Pialo seemed to love beyond a mere fascination and being around her was quite different than most of the other children that I met while I was gone. She included me in the games that her and her friends were playing on the play ground after school. I went down slides, through tunnels of water vats, ran about buildings and hid nearly everywhere they could think of to stick me. Later that night, after they had all gone and had supper, I was invited into the disabled girls dormitory by none other than the precious Pialo. I helped Esther to understand the one children's book that they had, a Christmas story as she read it in English to the others. Esther had no idea what a reindeer was, and frankly, I think I called it a moose that can fly. When I was going to leave, to be with my team for the night, Pialo teared up and didn't want me to go. To see this broke my heart and made me cry a bit too. Love is strong in the children of Kajiado, Kenya.