Yesterday was outreach day. It dawned cloudy and cold. I feed my kids oatmeal and Luis warmed their clothes with a hot iron before they got dressed. I braided Brooklyn’s hair and made sure everyone had on warm sweaters and had brushed their teeth. My babies were sent off with kisses and an apple in their bags with prayers of safety and good studies. A normal morning, happy family and robust healthy kids being sent off to study at a good school with teachers that we respect and admire.
Then Luis and I were off to the streets for Soweto Street Church. I have spoken at length in previous posts on the conditions that the kids live in, you have seen the pictures. Yesterday the thought of their warmth weighed heavily on my mind. Where do they get warm? HOW do they get warm?
We have been asked by a friend who works in urban missions to write a short fiction story on the life of the street kids and I wanted to do a sort of interview with them yesterday to get give them a chance to let their voices be heard. The following is a rough outline of the answers we were given.
What does your day look like?
picking plastic bottles and empty beer bottles to exchange for money
helping shoppers carry their bags
sell plastic bags to shoppers
beg for money
piece work for money
light the cooking fires for local restaurants
What does your night time look like?
drinks beer to stay warm
afraid of being beaten in his sleep
not enough clothes to stay warm
afraid of dying in sleep
afraid being robbed in his sleep
afraid of being hit by a car
what do you do for fun?
checkers
football
karate
weight lifting
dreams for family and future:
going home to parents
going to school
having a house and a wife and children
becoming a missionary
becoming a mechanic
life b4 the streets
school
helping out at home, looking after younger brother, washing clothes, dishes
playing football with friends
learning how to do wood working and making chairs
Mom told me to leave the home because there was not enough food for me and my little brother
How does it feel to be on stika?
good for a little while
makes my heart pain
makes me forget about life and my hunger and cold
i have to sniff all the time because the high doesn’t last
has symptoms of marijuana
When we explained to them what the project is for they got so excited. They can’t believe that people on the other side of the globe would even know about them or care they exist.
We really really really need a place where we can meet the kids. A room or store front somewhere would ROCK! While I was praying for them at the end of our time, someone put a movie on a huge scene and all you could hear in the back ground was screaming and guns going off.
If you are interested in giving to the work we are doing here and contributing to our living expenses so that we can keep working with these precious children you can go to tscnyc.org ---donate---make a one time donation----missions----Luis and Myranda Morales
No comments:
Post a Comment