They call him Pastor Amon. He’s 13 years old and the “spiritual leader” at Compassion child development center UG561 in the heart of the Katwe slum in Kampala, Uganda. Today this pint-sized preacher stepped on stage to say thank you. And I so wished you were there. Because he wasn’t… Read More
Dad’s can turn garbage into a soccer ball. Dirt into breakfast, lunch and dinner. And boys and girls into men and women. Richard is Colline’s uncle, but every bit her dad (I wrote yesterday about how she went from slave to daughter.) He wakes her early for chores because “this… Read More
I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to write all day. The heat is broken in my bonus room office so I can’t write there. The ideas and fingers of a Texan freeze at any temperature below 50 degrees. The box of Christmas presents from grandparents arrived this morning and after it was… Read More
Sambhaji’s elementary school had a feast before Thanksgiving. Parents were invited to eat in the cafeteria with their child’s class. When Sambhaji got home that afternoon he told me I wasn’t the only dad who couldn’t make it – an attempt at comforting both of us I think. “Drew’s dad… Read More
While running errands with the kids one Saturday I spotted a row of cages lined up on the sidewalk outside a pet store. “We’re not getting a pet,” I told the kids, “but we can play with them…that’s all.” There was squealing. “I’m serious,” I said. “Don’t ask, don’t beg,… Read More
Marla sat in a folding chair at the edge of the playground with a sketchbook in her lap. A little boy stood behind her, his chest against her back, his chin on her shoulder, watching a face slowly appear, line by line, on the page below. There were swings to… Read More
Shaun Groves