Eternally London by Ellie Wade

Author:Ellie Wade [Wade, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary romance
Publisher: Ellie Wade
Published: 2017-07-29T04:00:00+00:00

London

“There is a lot of ugliness in the world, but I have to remember to not let it blind me from the beautiful.”

—London Berkeley

We’ve been traveling around Tanzania for a couple of weeks. I’ve interviewed albino people from the cities and those hiding in the rural areas. I’ve heard more stories of nighttime attacks where limbs were cut off with machetes than I could possibly need to hear in a lifetime. I’ve taken more interviews and gathered so much information that I could write a year’s worth of daily articles. After I write the articles for the magazine, I think I’m going to write a novel about my experience. I want more people in first-world countries to know what these people go through. Before this trip, I didn’t have a clue.

I lie awake beneath my mosquito net. The reasons I can’t sleep are numerous and include the fact that I can hear rats scurrying around on the floor beneath the bed. I’m sleeping in a small bunk bed with a mattress that has no sheet and more lumps than my mom’s mashed potatoes.

Everything around me is dirty and gross, and I just want to be home in my bed, wrapped in Loïc’s arms. I haven’t showered in days and have resorted to cleaning myself with wet wipes, which are almost gone. Had I known the way this trip would go, I would have packed differently. I swear, I will never complain about anything else in my life ever again.

How can I complain about this sleeping arrangement when every child in this boarding school lives like this for years? For most, this will be the best they have. It’s hard for people with albinism to get work once they leave here. At least the metal gates surrounding this camp give the kids some peace of mind while they’re here.

Despite my sleeping arrangements, I’m afraid to close my eyes at night because, when I do, I see them. All of them. I see their faces and their injuries. I see their stories. I see their rapes and attacks. It’s horrifying. And I see her, the baby girl with the blue eyes. I worry she’ll be raped someday. I fear she’ll lose her limbs or her life. How long will she survive?

Finally, dawn comes.

I grab the one suitcase I have left, the smallest one with just the essentials, and head out. Many of the children are already up and playing in the open yard in the center of the school buildings. So many of the girls are wearing an article of my clothing, and I can’t help but smile. Yesterday, I went through my stuff and gave them all something. Some of it isn’t practical—like the girls who got my heels. But they love them. These kids have so little.

Now, I wish I had brought more than the three suitcases I did.

I really wish I had more sun hats, so they could shield their faces from the sun. Truthfully, I could spend days listing the things I wish I could give these kids.

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