"What in the world is going on," I thought, as I tried to figure out who was trying to break into our strict quarantine area. We have been so successful in not breaching that area over the last couple of months since we started bringing ladies back into the program; new and returning. We have welcomed over 100 ladies through this process and not once have we had a breech in the process. As the ladies come in, they spend 7-14 days quarantined to ensure they are virus-free, protecting all women and children currently in the building.
However, the quarantine group that came in this past Wednesday is not our "typical" quarantine group - this is a special group. From the beginning of the coronavirus crisis when we ceased all visits, mothers immediately began asking if their children were going to be able to come be with them this summer. We promised them we would do what we could when we could while still ensuring everyone's safety.
As summer approached, we knew we had to determine a way to get the children in, so we turned one of our intake quarantines into a child quarantine group. Therefore, this past Wednesday, we had 28 mothers and 39 children arrive. Some of those children have been at The Center before visiting their mothers, and with some, neither child nor mother had been here before - it is a well-diversified group.
So Thursday morning when I stared at the locked door that separated the quarantine group from the non-quarantine group, seeing it had obviously been tampered with and had a mis-fit key still hanging in the lock, I was determined to figure out who had done such a thing. Everyone knows dismissal is the consequence for messing with that door. Meanwhile, one of our employees heard one of our "non-quarantined," 5-year old boys cry to his mother, "but they are locked in down there! We have to get them out!" Getting that clue, and after questioning several of our children, we discovered our non-quarantined children had been trying to "break" the quarantined children out.
I couldn't help but get tickled. Our quarantined children have everything they need: games, water activities, arts & crafts, movies, etc., to have a good time while in quarantine, but our other children did not realize that. With all the riots, racism, hatred going on in our nation today, this sweet act of "heroism" spoke volumes to me. Our children, of different races, doing what they can to "rescue" the other children - of which include different races; their love for one another is untainted. They love strong, not letting anything get in their way (obviously).
It also reminded me of the verse in Matthew that tells us to come like little children; some of us adults could use this lesson from our children! I look forward to the children (and their mothers) getting out of quarantine where they can be with their friends and continue to love like they do. And I look forward to keeping the mission at hand thriving as we all continue to love each other as Jesus called us too.
Matthew 18:3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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