It ran down Maya’s fingers and was squished around her little mouth—wonderful, delicious, cool, chocolate ice cream. Ice cream she had before dinner, while out with Grandma (Larelle). After all, she was a big girl now and would be three on Friday. They sat together as the late afternoon sun kissed her face. Maya reached for Grandma’s hand as they walked back to the car. This was her night out to celebrate before Grandma left for Vietnam.

Maya’s sticky fingers would sooth Grandma’s conscience and soften the sting of missing her granddaughter’s real birthday for the second year in a row. Besides, this was fun. “Girls night out” meant only the best—hamburgers at Burger King complete with a princess hat, swings and slides, and a secret shopping spree with Grandma. She was three and had few cares in the world.
 

It ran down Le’s fingers and was squished onto her little chin—wonderful, delicious, cool, rainbow ice cream. She wiped her sticky fingers on her grubby little shirt as a smile spread across her angelic, yet pathetic face. She was three, a little small for her age, a child of little fortune. Le savored the cool ice cream in the hot mid-morning sun, and wiped her hand across her sweat-beaded forehead.

Le stood on the dirt path to watch the doctors and fair-haired newcomers at her village health clinic. She had no swing or slide, or for that matter, no place to go. This small stretch of village was all she knew. She might never realize what change the new safe well water would bring to her life. She was three and had few cares in the world outside of enjoying this brief moment with ice cream and foreign strangers.

For the grandma half a world away from the sticky fingers of Maya, this was the salve that made the many trips, the heat, the dirt and the discomfort worth it. The new well in Le’s village would provide safe, clean water to improve the health and save the lives of many children—children just like Maya and Le.