I CHOSE WHAT WAS RIGHT

It was one early morning for James, wrapped in his sleeping bags on the streets and with a face filled with regrets- wondering why he left home. As we related with him initially, he explained to us the reason he left home for the streets was because he didn’t like school. Well, that was not convincing enough and we hoped to understand the real situation once we got to his family. A strong young boy, very brilliant and fluent was on the streets, wasting away the potential to do great things.
We traced his family and found his mother who gave us an astonished look as if she couldn’t believe what she saw. “My son, where have you been for all these months?” She exclaimed as she embraced her son. We were welcomed warmly inside her tiny house built of mud-but one that carried so many memories in it and started to narrate to us her ordeals in search of her son. James had gone to live with his elder brother in a different town who offered to support him to a vocational training center and took a mechanical course since he didn’t want to continue with formal schooling. James is a little older than his classmates and felt as if he didn’t fit being in school. He disappeared during this period and went to the streets.
Her mother’s grieve began at this time and couldn’t comprehend how her last born child could just disappear. She explained to us how they searched for James, tried to contact his former school, the local chief area but nothing seemed to work. Her son was missing! How could that have happened? Though James had previously developed truant behaviors, he had never been away from home for such a long duration. Day after day, she would plead to the Almighty to bring back her son or just give her a sign that he was alive somewhere in the midst of this world.
One day a fire broke out in one of the major second hand clothes market in Nairobi, and many children on the streets had gone to try and gather some fortunes from the remains. Fortunately, as some local TV stations aired the incident, a former teacher to James happened to spot him on the TV. What a coincidence it was! Since he had the news of his disappearance, he called the mother and informed her. This was an answered prayer to his mother. At this point, she believed anything was possible, and that is when she prayed that God would bring back her son by July.
Was that an ultimatum? The first day of July was an unforgettable day for her; as some strangers just appeared at her compound accompanied by her son. The joy in her heart was beyond measure as she narrated to us how she kept praying for her son and how happy she was to have him back home and safe. We had some serious talk with James since he had to choose what was right for his life. We made him understand the importance of making right decisions even in his teen age. He was remorseful at the end of our talk and promised to go back to the vocational training centre and continue with his course. We are grateful he chose what was right and good for his life!

It is our mandate to guide these little ones in the right path, we need each other to transform lives!