Looking for Jesus in Disguise (part 3)
By this time Allan had started loosening up a bit and he didn’t hold his joy back. The kid is quiet, but I’m telling you, his smiles light up my heart. After his haircut we decided to join the team in their adventures for the day. After doing so, it was time to go shopping. Allan picked out his bed, blanket and we got him some Vaseline to make his head nice and shiny.
The time was drawing closer to the moment that we would take him…home. My heart was racing as my thoughts turned to wonder. What was he thinking? Knowing I wouldn’t get an answer other than “good” I tried anyway to no avail. I reached around his shoulder and placed my hand on his chest. A heartbeat never lies. Allan’s heart was racing faster than mine.
We rounded the corner and walked to the fifth door on the left, the door that I planned on him walking through every day. Meshack’s mama was sitting on the bed. The room has no light so I could only see the whites of her eyes and her white teeth.
Next, I insisted that we take Allan around the small village to meet some friends. On our way back to the house I realized that it was getting late and Meshack’s Mama wasn’t cooking dinner. “Meshack, has Mama already eaten?” I asked.
Head down he said, “Only when I can bring food.” Each word was like a ton of bricks falling on me. “Marisa, I have no job.” I looked at him in disbelief. As I tried to process what he was telling me I heard my teammate Sharon, who was video taping the happy homecoming whisper aloud, “If he doesn’t have food, he’ll go back to the streets and sniff glue.”
There are countless cultural things that I do not understand about this beautiful country. But at this moment I did understand one thing and that is, it is very dangerous for a street kid to come off the streets and then have to go back. He could be killed by the other kids, endure beatings from the older street men and it is almost certain that he will become hard, hate the ones that took him out and never trust anyone who would try to help him in the future.
The boys sniff glue because it curbs their hunger. They are also able to get food by picking through the trash. Allan could have all the love and comfy beds in the world, but if there is no food, he will do what he has to do. A 12 year-old cannot comprehend the good attempts of a missionary or the dangers of going back. And at this very moment, all of these serious threats stood before me as a haunting mirror.
Allan’s life is in the balance because of miscommunication. I assumed that a man who says he is going to take a child in would be able to provide for him. Meshack assumed that an American would sponsor him. He did not have the means to provide food for him. He doesn’t even have enough food for his expecting wife. Both of us have moved in faith and compassion for this child with no intentions of doing any harm and yet the consequences are screaming at us. Did we move in presumption or was it faith?
“Oh, God. What have I done?” I asked. I walked through the open doors. I extended my hand as if it were Jesus’. Will I let the fear or real consequences change the faith that I had when I delighted in God about how He chose Allen?
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What a rug coming out from under your feet moment, reading this. Hope Allen gets all the support he needs – we just added ours.
God delights in saving. I believe in your heart for Allen, Marisa. What God will do I don’t know, but I know faith and actions such as yours are never wasted. Let’s see what our good and compassionate God does.
Much love this Christmas Day from England,
Carol, Paul & Ross xxx
thanks for continually connecting us with these stories.
Merry Christmas!
Have been praying over this. What kind of support do you need? Are you going to add him somehow to the support coming in for the Orphan’s project so that Allen has ongoing support? If not how is ongoing support going to be provided. We could give right now and help him for a short time but it seems obvious to me that God is giving an opportunity to help on a long term basis and how specifically can that be done in this situation? It seems that somehow either providing longterm for this family as a whole OR sponsoring the child and doing something to help Meshack bring in money to support the whole family would be key.
Good questions Heather – questions I’ve been asking myself this morning. Here’s an email I sent to Marisa earlier this morning:
Marisa,
I’d like to get a better estimate of Allen’s budget and how we’re going to get him money before I do the wire transfer on Monday. Are we paying for school as well as clothes and food?
Also, how do we help guard against dependency over time? This is a critical issue. If Jason becomes our connection to Meshack, it would be good if we can take steps so that Meshack doesn’t begin to view him as a sugar daddy. The trick is to not provide all the help they need, just 30-50%. And we need to help him develop another source of funding if possible.
Toward that end, it would be good if Meshack could travel to Nairobi and Jason once a quarter in order to get the money. This would keep him accountable and perhaps Jason could disciple him and help him figure out how to provide for the family and be a dad.
Seth, please keep us updated on needs and how things are going to work out. I’ll spread the word with my blog readers, facebook friends, etc.
Fighting for the Fatherless,
Elysa Mac
Wow.
To me in this story Jesus is not just found in Allen but the heart of Meshack who would take on the commitment of another child when he can’t even support his own family.
Can I just ask how long Marisa will be in that country for? As a short term measure could Marisa use some of the support given to pay Meshack for his translation services? After such a gesture it doesn’t seem right to me that Allen’s food and education should be paid for while the rest of the family continues to live in poverty.
Seth, am I too late to contribute?
Saz x
Saz,
not to late to contribute – waiting on info from Kenya before wiring the money. I talked to them yesterday.
good point about Meshack. Apparently we are wanting to help Meshack and his family too. In fact, we are concerned about the dependency factor there and are working to come up with a solution that doesn’t produce that.
thanks!