Jenny's chips

While my brother was here visiting in January, we took the bus to Juticalpa - the capital of Olancho. While we were waiting on the bus to return back to Catacamas, a young girl walked on the bus with a tub full of chips that she was selling. She sat down next to my brother and me and started one of the most interesting conversations I have ever had with a 9 year old. Jenny was very articulate, smart and a good conversationalist actually. She told us the story of her life and asked about ours. She discussed her dreams and her desire to learn English someday. She told us that she lived with her "mom" in Juticalpa and sold chips that her "mom" made in the morning. It turns out that Jenny lives with her aunt who she calls "mom". She works from 6am until about 6pm selling chips in different parts of Juticalpa and appears to have a "network" of people that she works with. An older girl was also on the bus selling chips and appeared to be looking out for Jenny as she talked with us.
While we were talking, a woman walked on the bus and Jenny looked startled. She quickly got up and walked to the back of the bus selling her chips. As the woman walked off, Jenny came back and sat down. She said, "Sorry about that...my aunt would've hit me if she saw me just sitting there" - and then she went on with her conversation.
Riding home on the bus that day my brother and I began to talk about children's rights. Not that it hadn't been on our minds before, but now Jenny had put a face with the topic. We talked about the rights that children have and should have and then the amount of children like Jenny who work - not just in Honduras, but around the world. We talked about the amazingly bright future that Jenny could have if only given the chance. It reminded me of when I was living in the Dominican Republic in 1995 - I met a boy named Wellington who was a five year old shoe shine boy. He came into the city on his own every day to shine shoes. My friend and I met him one day as he was trying to enter a bakery. He was quickly told to leave by a security guard at the door. After that, my friend and I would meet him outside the bakery most days and have lunch with him. He made such an impact on our lives that we always talked about how we wanted to make a change in the lives of shoe shine boys and our plans to do it. Fourteen years later, Jenny reminded me that I haven't done much for shoe shine boys, children selling chips on the street or for any type of children's rights around the world.
In Luke 9: 48, Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all - he is the greatest." Children are the greatest in Jesus' sight and yet they suffer many types of abuse all over the world. Why does this happen? How can I be impacted by a child like Wellington or Jenny and not do anything to impact their lives? This is the question that I am struggling with. I am thankful for meeting Jenny. She taught me a lot. I cannot forget the image of her selling chips on the bus....such a relatively normal image here in Honduras....but an image that has caused me to stand up, take notice and act.