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November 11, 2020
Purpose
Raising a young adult child brings to you several things, joy, pride, a sense of accomplishment, worries, heartbreak and pain. I passed through all of these with each of my three children and find myself passing through it again with Abdalla. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become devoted in the responsibility of another child. After I became his guardian, I sat him down and told him that I do not plan to give in and be easy with you. Admitting that I had mistakenly too soft with my own. Well two years later now I am doing the same, same thing with him. I can say that I have enjoyed teaching and mentoring him in the formation of an upright individual.
As many of you know, Abdalla has had a very rough life, being the oldest of four and raised by single drunkard mother. Slowly but slowly, he trusted to share with me the horrors of his past 19 years and until up to now he kept these sufferings to himself. Each Sunday he packs food from my house and any little money he may have earned that week to take to his mothers to enable her to provide for the kids. In time he witnessed her selling this food for money for her addiction. At times he would see her sitting in small bars early in the morning on his way to deliver the food and others being drunk or hungover from the night before. His 4 and 6-year-old siblings would be at home filthy, and hungry which tore him up inside.
A couple months ago, her live in drunkard boyfriend broke his mother’s arm and still remains twisted so badly that she can no longer cook with her traditional method of cooking, so I bought her a small gas cooker to make it easier.
Two weeks ago, Abdalla arrived here early in the morning with his siblings, this has never happened before. Seeing the anxiety, he was carrying, I asked him what was going on. He said one of his mother’s neighbors called him the night before because the boyfriend smashed her head and was bleeding profusely. As he arrived, he found his mother selling the gas cooker in order to pay a hospital for treatment. He looked for clothes for the kids, but found none except those lying in mud. He took his sister as his brother ran and hid to a nearby neighbor. The brother surfaced and he took them both to his room, fed them, put them into his single bed as Abdalla slept on the floor.
The next evening, he returned the children to his mother with the village elder accompanying them. They spoke with her about removing the children and placing them into a children’s home. Today, two weeks later, the village elder, Abdalla and I visited the government children’s office and presented Abdalla’s case. This Friday his mother will be summoned to the office to talk with the officer. Then we wait to see what the next step will be.
Purpose- as most of you don’t know, I lived this life for several years, through the cheating, lying, violence and the stealing for alcohol. And enduring the hardest thing I have ever had to do, obtain a court ordered summons on a loved one. The internal pain, not knowing what to do and constant unrest is unbearable. I am thankful God has positioned me with the purpose of walking with this young man.
