The Mistake

The words on this post start here because this is a half-picture. I was importing photos of Manuela and her widowed mother into our data base. I went onto start printing them, but I forgot to set my printer default to the smaller size. When her photo started emerging from my printer, I abruptly stopped the page from printing. The result? Half an image. Half a child. Half a girl child, which in developing countries usually means less than the value of a male child.
When her image inched its way out of my printer, I was struck by the brightness of her eyes, the smile that a child has before she realizes the limits poverty are going to impinge on her. This is the face of expectation that the future will be what she will make of it, not what will be dictated to her by a lack of education or opportunity.
We are able to start feeding this child and her siblings because a woman named Cindy in Europe decided that $100 dollars a month needed to go toward something important.
The rest of this image shows a thin child with a belt wrapped twice around a tiny waist. Maybe it is best that the photo didn’t develop properly. I want to share her with you this way; with a sparkle in her eyes and hope in her heart. 
If we find the funds for a house that doesn’t leak in the rainy season, school supplies and a micro business loan for her mother, I’ll look forward to showing you a whole child. 
One with a future.