Imagine

Nearly one year ago, she sat in the parking lot against the fallen rubble of the outer wall of the hotel, holding an infant in her arms. His head was wrapped in ripped bed linens, soaked with his young blood, he lay quietly after hours of painful crying.

She was beautiful. She was young. She looked strong. Even in the dusk of the early evening I could SEE her. Her imploring eyes followed me as I hurried to the caravan that was to evacuate Me to safety. I looked away.

It was unfair, it was impossible. Help had come for me. I must leave now, I must return to my family; my husband, my own baby girls. I had to look away.

But tonight, I imagine a different picture...
She IS beautiful. She is young. She is strong and determined. I can SEE her. She sits against the outer wall of her new home, holding a toddler in her arms. he snuggles in to her chest, his brown curly hair is damp from playing in the heat of the day, a content smile stretches across his gorgeous face. She watches, and she listens....

Imagine the sound of children playing in a child friendly space, they are laughing, singing and dancing, it has replaced the crying, the wailing, the despair.
Imagine the father standing tall with the pride and exhaustion from a day of hard labour in the fields, he is providing food for his children, he no longer feels helpless.
Imagine the mother reaching over the window to hang curtains in her first home, security and stability replace fear and danger.
Imagine a crowd of labourers building the school that will teach their children and give them a future, rather than digging out the dead bodies of loved ones from the rubble that represented their lives.
Imagine the child whose belly is full and he is therefore able to imagine his own world of possibilities, a future, hope.
Imagine a community filled with hope, the belief in a better tomorrow, the desire, the skills, the resources to make it so.
I can imagine.

Tonight I don't want to look away, I want to look ahead.
Can YOU imagine what this community would look like, can you imagine what the world COULD look like, if we all did our part? What IF one community helped transform another? What IF all over the world communities, Fredericton, Moncton, St. John, Regina, Calgary, Victoria, chose struggling communities and helped raise them up to self sufficiency?

You can imagine. Now, what will you do?

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