Boxes of Kindness

Over the last two weeks, our new girls have been settling into the Hope House for the new year. This year, we have more little girls than before. Having a large number of children in the house brings joy and an unexpected playfulness.

On Sunday, one of the other tías (staff) brought several, large cardboard boxes over for the girls to play with… and play they did. Within ten minutes, there was a crowd of little girls gathered around the boxes cutting windows and exclaiming, “This is going to be the baby bed,” and “This is the door, see—it opens!” They were ecstatic- cutting, tying, and arranging until everything in their little house was in order. It was sunset before they left their boxes and came inside.

One of my favorite things I have noticed this year is the kindness they have shown each other as they have been playing. Like any friends or siblings, they aren’t perfect and do have their fights and disagreements, but there is a beautiful thing that happens when these girls decide to love each other intentionally. Saturday, I walked out to the living room where a group of littles were playing with dice. Instead of the game they typically play with the dice, one of the youngest had spelled out, “Chicas les amo” with the dice, which means, “Girls, I love you.”

These girls get to spend their free time playing and laughing as they learn how to live out kindness. The beautiful thing is that the kindness they are showing has been modeled to them by someone. Kindness overflows from one person to the next. It cannot be contained in a box. In the same way that these girls transformed boxes into a house, kindness transforms us. Sometimes, all that is needed is a box, some friends, and a little kindness.