Wednesday night, after our activity, little ten year old Mida came to me with her cute smile and presented me with a copy of her school grades. All A's and B's! I give the kids that do well in school a little reward, so I pulled out a few dollars and handed her the reward, her smile widened; she said "thank you" and rushed out in the darkness to her home to show her mom. It was just a part of the cold nights activity and I didn't think much about it, but that was the last time I would ever see Mida again.
Yesterday, Christmas Eve night, I met with the family around her little table top memorial.
Friday night the family and Kevin their cousin and his mother jumped into their old beat up car and headed south for Christmas with their relatives. About an hour into the trip the front tire blew out and the car ended up rolling down the canyon. Miraculously no one was hurt bad, but where was little Mida? The accident had taken her life.
When a child dies it's so sad. When a child dies near Christmas it makes the picture even darker. Family devastated.
All we could do is express our condolences.
We found the family hadn't eaten for a while, they were tired and were just going to go to bed. I had enough in my pocket to buy them all a chicken dinner, which they were happy to have.
Every Christmas Eve we cruse the cold black night through Tijuana's back country simply looking for opportunities to share, sometimes candy, sometimes blankets, in some places toys and in other places ... well, chicken dinner!
