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Playing UNO with a 3 year old.


“We get seven cards each”, she exclaimed enthusiastically as she with great concentration dealt two piles of just that. We picked up a pile each and started playing. It was a special moment of playing UNO with my 3 year old niece at the coffee table and having quality time when distance keeps me from seeing her as much as I would like.  We didn’t include the most competitive aspects of the game (like slamming your hand down on the pile when a 10 appears or being silent when there is a 7), but we did play the real game, and of course I helped her a bit by suggesting things like she should swap colours to a colour she actually has in her hands.

Colours.

As my niece confidently declared the colours she was in possession of, my mind flashed back 13 years to a slum in Brazil. I was playing the very same game (with a slightly more worn and dirty deck of cards) with a 5 year old, and finding my heart sink as it became very clear that when she’d get a colour right, it was a lucky guess, and really she had no clue of what colours were. Where spending time with her was about so much more than another one of the many loving people in her life playing a game with her. It was about someone taking time to give her attention that included positive words, where the rest of the time she was mostly told how useless and worthless she was.

I wonder where she is now. Her journey while I was there was horrendous at times and heart wrenching at others, and she went through the lowest of the low of exploitation, addiction and abuse. Yet it also took her on the path of getting off the streets and to a beautiful orphanage that became home. It led her to encounter Jesus and find freedom and love in Him.

She is now grown up. For a while those closer to her kept me posted on how she was doing, but last I heard they had lost track. I don’t know where she is or what is going on in her life. But I hope she is well and that she is walking confident of how loved and special she is. Maybe I’ll see her again some day... and get to remind her of her value.

When my niece would win the game she would jump up and down exclaiming “I won! I won.” If I won (playing UNO is serious business and in spite of the age difference we still played it correctly) I would tell her that she “won” second place, which would also bring her bursts of joy.

I pray that the other children like that 5 year old can have moments of unburdened joy like that, no matter what their circumstances are. And that someone would take time to teach them the colours and tell them they are loved.

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