A thing that happened

I was on a walk one Sunday afternoon in my community when I passed a child walking the opposite direction. He was lean and wearing worn clothes, not unusual for the weekends here. He carried a bulging plastic bag. I figured him for 8 or 9.

"Ngicela umsebenta," he said. "I'm asking for a job."
"Ncesi, ngilivolontiya. Ngite umsebenta," I said. "I'm sorry, I'm a volunteer. I don't have a job."

We walked our separate ways. I overtook him again on my way back, after I'd hit my turnaround point. I didn't have a whole lot more I could say in SiSwati.

I asked if he could speak English.

"I am asking for a job," he said.

I explained again that I didn't have one to offer him. I wished I had.

I asked if he went to school. He said he did not.

I asked if he had brothers and sisters. None, he told me. I asked if he lived with his mother.

"She has died," he said in English.

I asked if he lived with his father.

"He has died," he said.

We went through the grandparents, and I asked who he lived with at home.

I am alone, he told me in SiSwati.

I asked how old he was, "unangakhi iminyaka?"

"Fourteen years," he said.

This silenced me. We walked quietly together. After this long in Swaziland, I figured I'd be immune to feeling sad in these situations. I've met many children who have lost their parents. It's rare, however, to find a child who doesn't live with another adult relative. I felt myself starting to tear up, which is approximately the least useful reaction.

After a few minutes, I thought of a question.

"Uthandaza kuphi?" I asked. "Where do you worship?"

He told me the name of his church, and it was a church that I knew. I asked what his name was, and he told me.

Normally, I wouldn't give money to anyone in my community. If I'd been carrying money, I almost certainly would have given some to this child or bought him bread. But I didn't. I wasn't even sure where he lived, exactly. But I had a name and a church.

Since that conversation, I've spoken with a friend who lives near his church. She's talked to the head of the youth committee there and confirmed that the child attends. I intend to find out more about his living situation. But it gives me great relief to know there's a community helping him. Although I don't go to church, I know that sometimes it's the only support system an orphan has here in the SWZ. I'm thankful for it.