Two Sparrows For a Penny

I wrote back in October ‘Wanting to be Wanted’ of ‘P’ a young, mischievous boy who returned to the home and care of his grandmother. I was so heavy hearted and worried about this little boy – his departure from HOJ felt so wrong and despite my longing to ‘keep him’ I knew that  he couldn’t be persuaded to stay……..

He arrived back at our gate just before Christmas – dirty, ragged again, wounds on his body and a giant black bruise on his chin. The day that he left I was right to worry……
Once back at his Grandmothers house, his father who impatiently waited to leave my office, apparently beat him black and blue continually, releasing his monstrous rage upon a small little frame who wanted nothing more than to belong.

My instincts (and fears) had been right; The next day ‘P’ was back on the street – a  runaway from a childish fantasy now in splintered pieces……..

Another street boy brought him back to HOJ as he didn’t know the way back ‘home’……..but now he has found it!

Another entry ‘Open Eyed’ shared just part of the story of our unplanned involvement with a street family who we ended up helping to build a house in an effort to get them off the streets….a small step forward in a long restoration process.

A rebuilt shelter doesn't make a home and this poor family have a difficult and tumultuous history……

I suppose many would weigh up the ‘pro’s and cons’ before responding and measure the value of it all –Is it worth the time, effort or money????……Perhaps we should have too? There is definitely wisdom in that but I also think the measure of real sacrifice doesn't wait to count the cost......or expect an unrealistic ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ end to the story….(Perhaps there might be one…….one day?)........but it’s a long way off from today’s reality.

After one particular follow up visit with this family, one of our staff members had confessed that he had wanted to steal the baby away from his drunken mother and momentarily considered how to smuggle the little boy in his backpack......

Any regrets?......perhaps?.......Its easier to walk on by than to be involved.

Another of their children 'D' was found and later rescued by our staff last week off the street – dirty and wet with a streaming cold after days and nights in the rains of Typhoon Agaton……ALONE!

He recounts that his parents had a fight and his mother returned to the streets (with the children)……

And his premature baby brother, the catalyst for stirring a crisis response to try to help this family?????

He is no more!

Regretful now?......Absolutely!

My heart dropped down through to my soles on hearing this news……I wanted to vomit, shout out in anger and cry all at once…… right there on the spot.......I myself had even previously wondered about offering to care for this tiny bundle of humanity clinging to life against the odds……I had often worried about him too after the various family visits where the mother was intoxicated and slowly poisoning him one feed at a time......'Breast is NOT best' here!!!!! - I had asked questions - We had tried to get them other help...... and tried to measure what was the 'right thing to do?' I was willing to take him……..I had prayed......

Now he has been taken already by hands much bigger than mine...!!

Waiting.....and counting the cost is wise..... but it can also mean yet another one falls to the ground and is lost!

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care." Matthew 10:29

Now we have two little sparrows back.......a second chance for them.....and for us!