Protect, feed, and educate 114 rescued children

December 2017 was a turning point for Meja.  It was the time he followed strangers who held a glimpse of hope for him to ever go to school.  He exhibits a distant stare with the head tilted and eyes slightly closed as he narrates his story.  His inner world is beaming now and he is willing to share with us just a glimpse of it.  We may never be able comprehend what he has been through in his tender age, but one thing is sure – he now looks at the future differently, and proudly says so.

“I am 10 years old and this January 2018 I am able to go to school for the first time in my life,” quips a jovial Meja. 

“It is something I have dreamed of for a long time but I never imagined it would one day be a reality.  I prayed and cried so many times to be able to go to school one day.  I wanted to study and become someone in life.  I don’t believe it that I am in school now! I am happy to be in school but I am sad because my mother will never see me wearing my school uniform.”

Though taller and much older than many boys and girls in his class, Meja does not seem to be bothered by this.  He is comfortable just to be in class, and he shows it thanks to his face beaming with happiness.  His story is typical of the many children rescued from the streets and cared for by Grandsons of Abraham. 

Meja was born of a single mother who had dropped out of school at class five due to harsh economic conditions at home and eloped with a man who abused her and infected her with a serious disease. When a few years later she returned home she was sick, with no husband and a little boy to take care of.  She however could not get medical care and she died two years later.  Meja was then five years old and remained in the hands of his grandmother and when she too died about three years later, he had no other place to go to but the streets since relatives refused to take him in saying he would be a bad omen to their families.

Alone and at a tender age, Meja roamed the streets for two years.  “I found other boys and we slept in open areas.  I ate dirty food and was harassed by older boys many times but I could not go back home.  There was no one there”.

Meja narrates how all this time he haboured thoughts of going to school, and how late last year some people who said they were from a Centre for children befriended them and would visit them often. 

“At first I was afraid since not many people ever give us much attention.  But when our new friends promised to take us to school if we agreed to go to the Centre, I quickly threw away my bottle of gum (sniffing stuff) and volunteered to go with them.  Some of my friends refused and they are still there.  One day I will go back and request them to come and join school too.  I am very happy and if they see me looking very clean and in school uniform, I am sure they will also want to be like me, then they will come.”

Meja is hopeful that from now onwards his life will have a new meaning.  He is determined to work hard and to help other boys in the streets to go to school.  Thanks to our supporters who have donated generously to Grandsons of Abraham through GlobalGiving, Meja now has a new lease of life. 

We wish you a most happy and prosperous New Year 2018.