Beyond Evanston

He was different in a lot of ways than our kids - I guess in short, he was not a happy child. It's funny that I would say that, I guess; Khadija and Safia's kids' lives look pretty hard to me, and if they were depressed and angry I'd find it understandable. Ali especially has it hard, and Isha walks around with a deep sadness that I think you can see in some of these pictures. And yet... as Grace and I kept noticing, the kids love each other SO MUCH and are so loved by those around them. On this park day we noticed how well-behaved they were -- I don't mean in a stupid, children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard way either. Sure, they were kids - they got a little rowdy, they didn't always play by the rules (or understand them) - but they were good at Playground Etiquette 101: sharing. Being careful not to hurt themselves or others, and listening to suggestions like "don't climb on top of the...". Waiting their turn.

From our visits at home I'd established a mental ranking of relative squirrelness. I'd pegged Hassan as the hardest to handle; Mohammed had a teasing side, and Noor was quite high-energy (but then, he's young yet). But when I watched the kids interact with Loner, I realized again what a great job Khadija and her support network have done with ALL these kids. Loner must not have been so lucky - he was always restless and always trying to stir up trouble.