This guest blog post is brought to OSSO by Ecuador volunteer directors, Sasha and Keenan Foster
Father with Many Faces
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
My dad has many faces.
He likes to sit and read.
He’ll kick around a soccer ball,
And push me around with speed.
Sometimes he doesn’t know I hear him.
Sometimes I don’t even know his name.
But every time he says mine,
I feel his love all the same.
My dad has many faces.
He’s young, he’s old, he’s here.
My dad always returns different.
He’s tall, he’s short, he’s there.
We do all the usual things,
That fathers like to do.
We garden, we play, we fix things.
We even tie my shoes.
My dad has many faces.
I’m really the luckiest guy.
'Cause my dad, I know he loves me.
If you don’t know how, I’ll clarify.
It’s not about what they look like.
It’s not about what we did.
It’s about the feeling they left me.
I’m just like any normal kid.
They’re special. That I know.
Even if they only stay awhile.
Their love stays with me always.
Because that’s just Love’s style.
My dad has many faces,
But they’re really all the same.
We’re boys, we’re men, we’re connected.
That’s why they’re my dad I claim.
A note from the author:
I wanted to write something from the children’s perspective. Although it seems like children see the world so differently from adults, they’re really just the same as we are.
When we celebrate Father’s Day, we celebrate all the men in our lives. All the men who served here by the sides of these orphans' became part of the childrens' many faces of "father."
The children might not remember your name or your face, but they remember your heart. They remember your touch. They remember your love. They remember water fights, sword fights, invisible-gun fights, playing soocer, and racing with you.
Before writing this, I asked two of the older orphan boys with special needs about what is unique about having male OSSO volunteers down here in Ecuador. They started hopping in their chairs, telling me about what they do with male volunteers. One said “Goal!" reffering to how much he loves playing soccer with male volunteers. The other said with a smile, “Todos chicos,” meaning, he wants all the volunteers to be guys.
The children here feel an unbreakable bond with the men that come to sit and play by their sides. They have many fathers with many faces.
Keenan Foster, Ecuador Volunteer Director