A new start: hope, pray and go

[one_third] [/one_third] [two_third last=last] Years of wasted life – heavy and dirty jacket, hard life, hopelessness, describes Paul’s life on the streets. He looked like an old man and dejected when we first met him on the streets.  We soon discovered that he had been on streets for two and half years, and his appearance reflected it.

Paul’s story is no different from many other children we’ve meet on the streets:  parents separated, a broken family and a grandmother picks up the pieces.  As much as Paul loved his hard working paternal grandmother who opened her home without parental authority and guidance, he ran away from school to the streets in search for a better life.

As we met with Paul regularly, slowly but sure, his self-esteem began to grow.  We began to see signs of hope, of change and transformation.  Paul now looked his age, 14 years old.  One day Paul expressed a desire to go back home and plead with his grandmother to receive him back.  Paul said he was ready to face his grandmother and apologize for past mistakes. The team assured him that they would plead his case with his grandmother about his past mistakes.[/two_third] Parents’ separation often causes much damage to many children like Paul, driving them to the streets where their lives and dreams are wasted.  Paul has a dream of becoming a teacher, which cannot be realized on the streets.   We are glad that Tumaini Kwa Watoto team is on the streets and in a position to reach such children like Paul.

Paul’s turning point came when we rescued him from the streets on 14^th November 2012 and thus begun a journey of restoration.  We rescued him from the streets and reunited with his grandmother.  When Paul’s mother heard that he had come back, she sent a message requesting Paul to visit her.  Paul went to visit his mother during the school holidays, a few miles from his grandmother’s home.  The visit went well and Paul decided to stay with his mother and go back to school.

When we visited Paul after seven weeks, we could hardly believe the change that has taken place. Paul’s hopelessness had gone and he has begun to blossom. Paul has gone back to school and the evidence of restoration can be seen all over his life.  He is finally home where he belongs with his mother.

 

February 1 2013.