Yes ….. you can choose.

For displaced people here on the island of Chios, and all around the world – one thing which is taken from them is choice.  Their choices on so limited.  Where they live, what they eat and what time they eat it, whether their children can go to school, whether they can work … the list is endless.

Life choices are something I guess many (including me) take for granted.  From something as simple as what you buy for dinner, to a change of career later in life (as I have done).

I have just returned from Vial camp, it had been raining and the ground was full of water and mud.  We had a few deliveries to make and had paper and a few pens for the kids to draw some pictures.  All went well, we put down the plastic tarpaulin, the children came.  They sat in a circle (well kind of) and had 1 piece of paper each.  In the middle a box of colouring pens, I told them they could have 1 pen each and when they wanted another they changed it, putting the other pen back in box. .. and this worked most of the time.  They shared and created pictures, we talked about what they had drawn.

To be honest, I was amazed how well they shared together, OK a few fights, but thats to be expected.

What was poignant for me was when I brought out a selection of small stickers: stars, animals, smiley faces etc.  At first they all went crazy, shouting “me my friend, me, me”.  I told them to stand in a line (one of the first English words these kids learn), and they lined up for 1 sticker – then to the back of the line for another.  I took the time to let them choose which sticker they wanted and where they wanted to put it, I could see in their faces how they relished this choice.  Such a small choice, but it was theirs to make.

At the end a girl of around 10 years old gave me the box with the pens in (this was really a special moment) and I saw that she had put all the tops back on, plus she had used her stickers to decorate the box.  I thanked her, what a truly beautiful gesture.