Fairy Godmother

This is Yvaniah. She was born on Oct 4th, 2002. I had moved into her grandmother's home for a home stay of one year, starting in Sept. I got along well with Ducha, Yvaniah's mother. And towards the end of September I noticed she had a biggish stomach. Is she just fat or pregnant. I asked myself? She was 21, single, no sign of a boyfriend... That was on a Monday. On Friday of the same week, Yvaniah was born...

I was asked to be her godmother, and though I was sick in the hospital with a kidney infection the day of her baptism and I don't even know what godmother's do, I've been trying. She's been hanging out with me in Chimoio for the past week. Delightful.

I get the same sort of happiness having a kid around as I do searching for mushrooms and berries in the forest. It just feels so natural to let a kid be. To give them opportunities to learn and grow.

reading. planting leaves, painting cardboard, screaming at the sight of the dog, dancing ballet with scarves, swimming, climbing mountains, mudpies....... the joys of childhood.

One of Yva's friend's is named Fada, which is Portuguese for fairy. So we were talking about fairies yesterday and decided to make some out of clay. What does a fairy godmother do? I can't do magic, but I think some of the best magic for a five-year old is a lot of love and some freedom to play.