Looking After "Neverbugs"

There is a line in one of my favorite movies, Hook, where Peter Pan (Robin Williams) is leaving the “lost boys” and heading back to reality. He is giving them instructions and choosing their new leader. When he gives the chunky kid the leadership sword he tells all of them that they are responsible to take care of anybody who is smaller than they are. The tiniest lost boy? He is responsible for taking care of "neverbugs"…little ones.

That line reminds me of one of the coolest kids that I know, Christela Nelson. Christela is the oldest sister at Freedom House Grace girls home in Jacmel and she takes care of all of the "neverbugs" there. She is the constant mother, for all of her soon-to-be 13 years of life. She looks out for the group, counts heads, dishes out food, and carries smaller kids to bed when they pass out on the floor at night. I have begun to call her Manmi Christela, I am hoping it rubs off on some of the girls because I think she has earned the title.

Christela came to the home in the first group of girls back in 2009. She came from being a child slave, or restevek, as they are called in Haiti. I have not talked at great length with her about that time of her life; it would serve little purpose other than to quench my appetite for knowledge. I am certain it wouldn’t be helpful for her to replay those scenes in her mind just for my sake. What little I do know about her specific case is that it was abusive (as by definition any restevek case would be) and that she worked really, really hard.

As she turns a page in her life and turns into a teenager in the coming weeks, I am struck once again by the change in her situation. She is a giver. She gives. This is what she does. It’s who she is. She used to give out of fear, abuse and because she was mandated to by the adults in her life. She gave, and gave and gave of herself to no end. Today, she still gives, but for a different reason. Christela gives out of love, a love that seems to ooze out of her. If you ever have met her, you know what I mean. She used to give because she had to, now she gives because it is the language of her heart. Once a servant to man; now a servant to God.

As her 13th birthday approaches, I am hoping to be a little more like Christela, a little more able to look out for those smaller than me, a little bit better at giving out of the love that God has put in my heart. I want to be a little bit more like her, taking care of the "neverbugs" that God has put in my life…