These are the faces that break your heart...

Bel-Air Children's Home - "You are special!"

Spent all day with the 35 kids who range in age from 1-19; some handicapped.  Originally we thought it was an orphanage, but no, none of the children are actually orphans; they are - which is worse, I think - abandoned or abused.  Rejected by those who should love them the most, these children are starved for touch and affection.  God bless their caretakers who put up with a LOT - trust me, I know.  Our theme?  "You are special!"

Just their Bel-Air pledge shows their pain:

As a resident of Bel-Air

I want to prepare for a better future.

A place with room for you and me.

Where our minds can be safe and free.

With goals that you may try to achieve.

No matter what people may believe.

I have a life to live.

I can help because I am growing.

I am as bright as the sun that shines.

I am as strong as the wind and the rain.

As rich as the deep blue sea.

I can rise, I can try,  I can succeed.

I am going to reach to the top.

And I will, because I believe in me.

These are the faces that break my heart, and haunt my thoughts.  What will become of these children in a few years?

If we brought them smiles, even for a day, then we succeeded.

my little boy

running to greet me

Shondell & me

"SHONDELL"
she says he is a little more than a year
he looks at me
his eyes wide with untold fears
he's old enough but doesn't speak a word
it's too loud for him be heard
left alone in his crib all day
silent he sat
watching the others play

i pick him up
"he is too light" crosses my mind
only six teeth show
can he really be one year old?
do they feed him enough?
does he ever play?
who is there to care for him each day?

what can life have in store?
what future can he have?
doesn't the world care a little more?...
but he doesn't need the world
he just needs someONE.

his name, she says, is Shondell
he was my one-day baby boy.