Friday, July 1, 2011

A Man and His Destiny

      As I begin to get to know the students at Our Lady of Grace school better, the many stories of struggle, sadness and violence continue to come as regularly as the afternoon thunder storms.  Although I had a sense of what to expect before our plane touched down at the tiny airport in Kisumu, I could not have imagined the things I would come to hear. The student's pasts vary in degree but I can guarantee that all have seen and survived situations that I will never fully understand. Many of the students have not yet clawed their way out of the deep well life has thrown them in but as I said before we must always have hope. I am not naive. I know that only a few of the students will rise out of the ashes and begin to help rebuild their beautiful country.
      This is  one young man's story, well an abridged version of one chapter. He may be one of the few who, through hard work, faith in God and the support of the community at Our Lady of Grace School, will loosen the bonds of his broken past and become who God calls him to be. I do no seek to embellish his reputation  to get an emotional rise out of any of you or guilt trip you to donate to the organization nor do I  seek make him a sort of mascot for the school. I want to share with you what I have seen, what I have learned from a young man, a testament to the strength of love and faith and remarkably similar to you and me.
       His story, though astounding, differs little from his classmates, what sets him apart, besides the long distance he traveled to get here, has been his success in and outside of the classroom. He carries himself with great humility, a palpable sense of wisdom and unwavering patience. This young man now a senior in high school, has come a long way to become the man he is today. When he first showed up at the Dominican's compound, he did not like school, he caused trouble and had an all around bad attitude. In a word he was angry, mostly because he had no parents. His mother died when he was young and to this day he does not know where or exactly how she died, all he knew was that he no longer had a mother.    
His long road of transformation was far from smooth. It took one tough Dominican to whip him in shape and turn his life around. When he recounted the story to me, standing on one of the paths at the upper school, he smiled, shook his head, shifted back and forth and said "He was very harsh. But we all loved him. He was like a father." With the encouragement of this friar, he soon found the endurance and the will to reach his potential and succeed. He began to earn good marks in school and now shows promise to continue on to University. He has a deep sense of charity and desire to protect the weak and disabled, especially the unborn. He, in the words of one of the younger primary school boys, has, "dazzling football (Soccer) skills." He continues to quietly work towards his goals and lead by example. He knows he cannot accomplish anything without the aid of God, who has given him everything.
      A long road still lies ahead of him. And if the road is anything like the roads here in Kenya, he will have many pot holes to dodge, dangerous drivers to avoid, half finished roads to navigate and blind turns where he must simply pray that someone will not come flying around the bend on his side of the road and hit him head on. I cannot help but be inspired by his faith, his fortitude and his patience. He shows love and compassion to all the boys and girls in the school, even those who grow angry with him. He just calmly and slowly says "They say things and try to act certain ways because they are confused. They know they are not capable of doing the things they say they will do. I do not take it personally. They are still growing up." He has hope. He knows it can be hard to grow up. Not all people mature at the same rate and some struggle more than others. But he will continue follow his path with the knowledge that with faith in God he can do what so many have failed to accomplish, to rise out of poverty and reap the destiny that his strong character sowed.

2 comments:

  1. You will never forget these people, and you'll probably twll their stories for the rest of your life. Glad you're having a good time.

    Lots of love
    Raye
    xxxx

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  2. Thank you Raye! I hope I will always remember!

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