Dear Oprah,
     While looking through my pictures last night, searching for the one I wanted to post, I came across this picture:

Violet...who followed me to the bathroom (it was an out house) every day...

     This is Violet.  I noticed her the first day I worked in the "nursery" because she was visibly so much older and larger than all of the other children there.  Even if she hadn't been, I wouldn't have been able to miss her because she stared at me constantly.  After a few days, I noticed that when I left the building to go out to the outhouse, I would always pass her on my way back in. Then I started to realize that she was following me. Each day, she got a little bit closer until the day she was right on my heels and I thought she might just come into the small "stall" with me (it was just a hole in the ground surrounded by 4 thin walls). I tried to talk with her but she did not respond with anything but the smile you see above.  I felt a heaviness from her and was intrigued by her seemingly, though unspoken, thankfulness for the simple attention I gave her: mainly just eye contact and smiles...and I tried to remember to say her name everytime I said hello to her because she became brighter for a moment every time I did so.
     One morning, she didn't come to school.  I missed her. That night when we met as a group of teachers back at the place where we were staying (as we did each night for sharing and prayers to try to process the thoughts and activities from our individual days in order to support one another going into the next) I mentioned that Violet's absence had stood out to me and was bothering me a great deal. Anne Marie, who was doing the home visits each day, said she would put Violet's house on the top of the list. She knew which child I was talking about as there had apparently been discussion about the fact that her mother's legs were completely curled under and she barely got out of bed each day.  When she did, she hobbled around on PEGS...not crutches...pegs. Violet went home everyday and fed her, did the wash, straightened the "house" etc. I realized then that Violet's mother was the woman whom I had heard a story about the first night we arrived.  Judy, the head of the school, was very pleased because some of the other single mothers had gone to Violet's house to help her mother. They found dead chickens and extreme filth everywhere but pulled together to clean it up for her. Her mother made a recovery...but still, Violet was her sole caretaker. I thanked Anne Marie for making Violet a priority and hoped I would see her the next day.
     I didn't. She was out again. When I asked Diana, lead teacher of the nursery, where she thought Violet might be, she looked very worried and said, "I heard wailing on the other side" and then walked away.  I didn't really know what that meant until a few nights later when I experienced it for myself.  I woke in the early hours to a low humming noise that progressed in its pitch until its cacophony broke into its individual components of individual cries....and I then knew it to be the sound of many people crying at once. It was the wailing I had heard of.  When someone in a village died, the neighbors would morn out loud together. This is what Diana had heard the morning I asked her where Violet might be.  I realized that the teachers of the school were even more concerned than I was when the morning's prayer centered around Violet's safety.  I felt sick to my stomach.
     About 2 long hours later, Violet came walking into the school building and it was truly one of the happiest feelings I have ever felt. She promptly followed me to the bathroom (though I didn't really have to go...I just wanted to do something for her and didn't know what else I could do except that). I took this picture that day. I was so thankful that she was there. I showed it to her in the view finder. It was such a small gesture and I actually felt a bit guilty in some way for capturing her sadness on film. But as she looked at it, I realized that she was seeing herself for the very first time ever. And she was smiling :)
    Oprah, there are a bazillion Violets in Africa.  And I want to help each of them.  But I don't know how to save so many. What I do know, is that there is only one Vallary. And she has the capability of helping/leading/supporting/teaching/guiding/mentoring all of the Violets in a way that I never could, being a whole continent away and lacking in the inherent understanding of the African way of life. And most importantly, this is what Vallary WANTS to do with her life. She wants to be a leader.  She wants to help her country.  And I want to help you help her by telling you her story and hooking up her need with your gift of education, hope, and a future. Are you listening out there? Sure do hope so.

The "bathroom".