Friday, July 24, 2009

Could Jesus really love me?


Salam. My name is Hawney and I am a 2 year old little girl from Afghanistan. I don't really say much, but if I did I would tell you that I am the 4th of 5 children. My baby brother and I live in a stroller that my friends at the Athens Refugee Center gave me. Mostly our family lives in the park, but sometimes we stay with friends. We used to have an apartment that we shared with another family, but my father spent our rent money on drugs and now we can't live there anymore. I like it when the ARC is open. It is cooler than the park and I feel safe there. Sometimes I get to take a shower there and they wash my clothes. Once I gave myself a shower in the men's bathroom during Tea House and made my mother very unhappy with me for getting my clothes wet and filling my shoes with water. I wish we had a safe place to live. I wish my mother would stop crying. I wish my father would stop taking drugs and would work harder to take care of us. I think I am invisible. Could Jesus really love me?

Salam. My name is Peter and I am from Sudan. I don't really talk anymore either. I am 3 years old. My father fled Sudan when it became unsafe to live in our village. He purchased my mother in Ethiopia. I was born i
n Greece. I am an only child. My mother left our us in May to get a job on an island. No one thinks she is coming back, ever. My dad didn't know I was old enough to eat solid food, so he just gave me milk, until someone at the Athens Refugee Center told him I could eat other food. We live in an apartment, but I don't know how much longer we can stay. My dad doesn't think I understand, but I know he isn't able to pay the rent and if my mom doesn't send money soon, we will be living in the park like my friend, Hawney. I am afraid my dad will leave me too. He doesn't know what to do with me. Childcare is woman's work and my mom is gone. I don't let him out of my sight. I don't speak anymore. I just throw temper tantrums on the floor if I don't get my way. I know this doesn't help my dad like me more, but I am so frustrated and so afraid, I just don't know what to do with myself. Could Jesus really love me?

They say that Jesus sees. They say that Jesus knows. They say that Jesus cares. Pray for me and my family. We are desperate. We are without hope. We don't know Jesus. We are alone.

1 comment:

susan said...

Good post, Lisa. I might borrow it ... I really like it ... really gets the point across. Hope you are having a good day.