Jose: When his parents died, he stayed with his grand-father who was a sorcerer. One day his grand-father tried to do things on Jose in order to sacrifice him to his idols but Jose refused and ran away. It was how he become a street child. We received him and he is very intelligent at school. He sings with the Sunday School children.
Conner: His mother married a man from another tribe. In the 90’s, because of ethnic problems, it came to that husbands who didn’t have same ethnic groups with their wives were obliged to kill them. His mother was advised by her husband to leave and stay with her own family for a while. She stayed with her family who was in the refugee camp for two years. During her stay, she slept with a man and became pregnant. When she went back to her husband, he didn’t like to have Conner among his children. Three times he tried to kill him saying that he was born from another tribe. When I went a few years ago to visit widows in the province, I found the woman crying to a pastor, begging him to take the child. But, everybody was afraid to take him in order not to be hurt by the husband. When I saw that dramatic situation, I took the risk in order to save Conner. We are thankful that he still alive.
Cole: His father died during the war in a neighboring country. He came with his very young mother among refugees with his three brothers. When his mother learned about our home, She came to beg us to take at least one child because she didn’t have enough to feed them. I took Cole and tried to give his mother a small amount like $50 as a capital to sell tomatoes in the camp. She was so happy. Two years after, some problems took place in the refugee camp. Cole’s grand-mother was killed in the refugee camp, and his mother has been sexual abused. She became pregnant and got a baby. During the break last year, I sent Cole to visit his mother without knowing what happened. Cole’s uncle took all the children from his mother in the camp and obliged her to stay with that baby who doesn’t belong to their original family. That is how we lost Cole during for one year. In meantime, I have intervened for Cole because he was not studying. We have gotten him back to his school.
(The names of the boys have been changed.)
