Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Charles!!

So they we were after mass on Sunday getting a tour of Lusango village/Town. The little village kids decided to walk along side us. They are all soo friendly and curious about us!! To be honest I think I developed a soft spot for these kids.for example when we are doing the activities with the school kids of Living Hope primary School they just sit on the side line and watch with excitement unable to join in on the fun. It breaks my heart to see this!So last Friday afternoon during my break I headed down to where they were sitting and started to play games with a bunch of them. They are all so fun loving and they started to teach me some of their games. They kept on calling me "MUZUNGU" which basically means a well respected person. So i nipped that in the bud and thought them my name AOIFE!

So anyway they we were getting the tour of Lusango and some of the kids were talking to me whilst following us on our tour. One child in particular called Charles was talking to me. He started to recite such things like "communication is....", "the weather is......" he was clearly trying to show me how intelligent he is! So after our tour we were getting back on the bus I heard Charles call my name and he handed me a note. I took it on the bus with me and proceed to read it. All the while Charles was looking at me waiting for a response. It was awful the note basically was asking me to sponsor him to go to living hope primary school, he can not afford it because his father is dead and his mother finds it hard to even care for him. I did not know what to do or where to look because at this stage he was right beside my window waiting for a response. all I could do was smile and say I will talk to you tomorrow.

All that evening I kept thinking about him and wondering how I could go about helping him, does he really need my help, If i help him will all the children in the village start producing similar notes. I asked Ailbhe and Lura for their advice. So eventually I decided that I cannot give this boy any false hope and that i am better going through a charity when I get home and sponsor a child that way. Although I decided this I still in the back of my mind really wanted to help him since he had specifically asked me.

The next day he came looking for me i managed to avoid him for most of the day because i really could not face saying NO to him. I eventually plucked up the courage to go over and explain that I cannot sponsor him that I have to do it with a charity because it is not fair on the other village children. his face was filled with utter disappointment. This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I was in bits after it. I don't know how but I managed to keep myself composed!

That evening I just could not stop thinking about him. I then decided that I had not tried hard enough to help Charles. So today I approached Pastor Maria about the situation. I showed her a picture of him and asked her was there anyway I could help him.

So the story to date is that Pastor Maria going to talk to his Mother and see what help they need and she is hopefully then going to allow him to become a pupil in the Living Hope Primary School. I will be able to sponsor Charles through Fields of Life.
Aoife

3 comments:

  1. Aoife, I am in tears here, it is heart breaking and you are so kind, lucky Charles your heart is so big.

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  2. Aoife, you've brought tears to my eyes. I'm so pleased that you have found a way to help Charles.

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