Photo taken 2018
Meet Gibran or as his friends like to call him, Santi.
His story, like many among our community, started with heartbreak. Santi is the oldest of 3 and at his young age was forced to carry the responsibilities of an adult due to the lack of a father and an alcoholic mother. When we met Santi at the young age of 6, he never knew what it was like to play ball or hide n’ seek. He came to us in search of affection and honestly food for his family to eat. When we met them, Santi was in charge of taking care of his mother when she was drunk. We would often see him following her down the streets of the lake as she stumbled her way around, deep into alcohol, making sure that she would not fall, get lost, or worse, be abused. Not only that, but Santi was in charge of working to feed his siblings and maintain his mother's vice.
Over time however, we noticed Santi coming around more often. Little by little he would linger a little longer. He simply wanted to spend more time with our MARKED staff which allowed us the opportunity to get to know not only he and his siblings, but his mother as well. As we built relationships with this family, conversations about God, and His radical love for them would come up. Topics of value, and identity. But also what it meant to be a mother. Responsibilities and the honor it is to love and care for your children.
Today, we are happy to report that Santi is not only enrolled in school, but his mom is now sober and working to care for her family.
You will find Santi daily at our community table. He and his brothers are always the first to arrive and usually one of the last to leave. His favorite part is participating in telling the Bible story. Santi has expressed how thankful he is to God most for how good He has been to him. We know the road is long for this precious family, but we also know that there is so much hope and redemption still to unfold in their story.