Her favorite color is purple, and she wants to be a teacher when she grows up because “all my teachers are nice and I think it would be a fun job to have.” She likes to “slide and play on the swings,” and says she has two best friends.
A few weeks ago, though, Messiah was watching the news - “I was watching it with my mom” - when she saw the photos of earthquake victims in Haiti.
“There were children, adults and they were hurt, in the streets, no homes, some lost their families,” said the daughter of Michelle Brown and Johnny Brown.
Her eyes, normally bright with childlike innocence and excitement over life, began to fill with tears.
“I was watching the news and it hurt my heart when I saw the Haiti earthquake hurt so many people and people who don’t have homes anymore. I told my mom and she thought maybe we could do something,” she said.
Messiah talked to her teachers, and one suggested that she write an essay about how she was feeling.
Messiah did just that.
Messiah wrote, “Helping Haiti. Did you know Haiti had a earthquake? The earthquake was bad. Over 100,000 people were killed, and I think we should help Haiti by sending some money to them. Please try to send money to school so we can help Haiti. Please, please try to send money.”
Eyes twinkling as her essay was read to her, Messiah said, “I got to read it on our school television to the whole school and that was cool.”
She wrote a second essay after money was raised.
“Do you remember when I wrote about helping Haiti? Well, this time I am writing about how we helped Haiti. We raised $97 and we probably raised even more. I am happy that we raised a lot of money. I saw that some people have homes. I am so glad that we have the heart to help Haiti.”
The total eventually rose to $114.
Something troubled Messiah’s heart even more as she heard of other countries in trouble, like Chile, and she thought about the people in our country and even in Troup County who might need help.
“Maybe we should be helping people all the time. There wouldn’t be any hurt hearts if we did,” she said.
Becky Holland can be reached at bholland@lagrangenews.com and (706)884-7311, Ext. 229.
— “Neighbors” is a feature of LaGrange Daily News which spotlights people who are in the news, have unusual hobbies or are otherwise interesting. To suggest a person who could be profiled, contact Becky Holland at bholland@ lagrangenews or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 229.
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