Lice Christians?

Mission Direct employee John Baker (not pictured below) recalls an afternoon spent washing the hair of Cambodian slum children.

I knew I was there to serve - but I was surprised by my first thoughts. What should you feel when you walk into a festering slum to wash the bug-infested hair of a gaggle of assorted children?  To my shame, my first thought was: “Oh, I hope they don’t give me headlice”.

But then I get caught up in it all. The kids come from out of their shacks, smiling shyly, happy to be drenched with clean water from our pots and saucepans. As we massage their scalps  with shampoo you can see the relief; we are washing away itchy infestations. A proper hair wash with medicated shampoo? This was clearly something completely new.

But we soon realised that this wasn’t the only novelty. This village really was at ‘the bottom of the heap’, even by Cambodian standards, with filthy effluent flowing directly outside their houses and no sanitation. These were harsh and unforgiving conditions and this kind of intimacy, not to mention attention was  something the kids weren‘t used to. The queues started building, some of the children join the back for another rinse.

When Jesus washed his disciples feet he was making a point about ditching your status when you serve people. It’s not a ritual that many churches choose to repeat - it’s embarrassingly intimate, and it breaks down barriers of status.

We add a few more pots of clean water to flush away the grime and bugs. Next, a dab of conditioner to ease the combing and a final rinse, just to make sure.

And then the climax, the final brush and style. The children want their hair styled and moulded, into towering quiffs and pointy rhino horns. They charge and preen around like little Elvises and Sinatras. You can see their excitement at the glamour of it all, even in their filthy ragged clothes.

You can see their new sense of dignity: dignity at a freshly restyled hair, but also at the thought that these grown ups have travelled thousands of miles to do this. We haven’t given these children dignity ourselves; we were all dignified together, by taking part in a simple act.