E was one of the first girls I met out on the track, and her face is ingrained in my memory. E had been so genuine and open with us, sharing about being in the game for the past two years. She had no form of income and the government was continually lessening her welfare benefits. She and her sister took turns babysitting her two-year-old and her sister’s one-year-old while the other was out working on the track, night after night.
But E is my age.
E has to care for herself and her son. E has to worry about having enough money for them to survive. E had wanted to be a secretary, but now those dreams were distant.
And there I stood, two feet from her, yet in an alternate reality.
I am her age, but I do not have to raise a child. I do not live in fear of next month’s electricity bill. I have aspirations and am able to actively work towards them. I have the audacity to dream.
I want so badly for E to be able to dream again. I want so badly for E to work towards her aspirations. I still think of her often and pray for God’s hand to work good in her life. I have not seen her since. I do not know where she is or how she is doing. But I ask God to give her a flickering hope for a brighter day.
“Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning”. –Job 11:17