A 15-Year-Old Received a Literacy Lesson – and a Baby Box!
The young mother in Mila’s story, together with her husband, gratefully receives a Baby Box for their little one.
Mila Ivanova, Bulgaria
This past spring we began providing literacy classes and Baby Boxes to a church that meets in an old railroad car. We recently made a visit to teach a reading class for the children and then to hand out Baby Boxes to mothers with new babies.
About thirty children sat close together with textbooks in their hands, watching their teacher carefully and repeating letters and syllables. The teacher was a volunteer who attended our literacy training course in March.
In the front row sat a quiet, serious girl, slightly older than the others. “I’m glad she has come to learn to read, too,” I thought. The lesson ended and it was time to distribute Baby Boxes to the mothers who arrived. But the girl in the front row did not leave with the other students. Then I understood: this 15 year-old had come for a literacy lesson and she was also a mother needing a Baby Box!
This delicate young girl had tired eyes like an adult. Her slender hands should still be holding a pencil but were already holding a baby. Her heart should be dreaming about the future, but was instead filled with worries.
Even the calm, matter-of-fact way she received her Box alluded to adulthood. She was not like a child receiving a gift, but instead was a mother carrying responsibility for her family.
There are many girls like her. Children are having children. And perhaps the hardest part is that this is considered normal. But it is not normal for children to be pushed into adulthood and lose an important part of their own childhood.
I felt a deep pain as I thought about the many girls who have had to grow old too soon. Lord, protect these children! Help us never to become calloused to their struggle. Give us wisdom and love so that we can help them!
About Our Literacy Program
Our literacy program - which is made possible by collaboration with local churches - serves Roma communities, whose children often struggle in school because of poor living conditions and limited knowledge of the Bulgarian language.
