We used to stop by the side of the village dirt roads, open the back of the van and young children would line up for the sandwiches and oranges we had to offer. Over that first year, we watched as many of those children quickly went from young children to youth before our eyes.
Andre says he will never forget that moment, as his life was quickly changing and he was slowly becoming the man of the family.
He remembers the first time we pulled up in the van, his younger brothers and sister ran out the door to line up, his mom asked him to go and get a sandwich but he refused. He didn’t want anything from anyone then. His mom went and got both him and his dying father a sandwich. Unsuccessfully she tried to tear off little bites and feed it to Andre’s father, a few days later, his father would pass.
Andre says his next memory of us was a little less than a year after his father died. We had a team from out of town helping us serve food at our base across the street from his house. Andre was angry and doubted any and every person doing anything nice for him, he said they were not safe and didn’t believe they would every stay around.
So that afternoon he decided to come down to our base and give one of our friends a mouthful of what he thought about them. Our team members overheard and took him to the side to try and have a conversation. He gave our team member a lesson on what was her business and what he thought of her as well. You could say we didn’t get off to a great start.
His mom began volunteering with us and Andre found any excuse to continue to come around and cause trouble; throwing rocks at the little ones, making fun of whatever we were doing, bothering the kitchen volunteers, basically whatever he could do to bring some kind of attention to himself. It was his cry for help.
Over time, more and more conversations were had. He had dropped out of school and too was going down a path that broke his mama’s heart.
One afternoon he finally let his guard down, and said, “How can I be sure that you will follow through with what you say and will be around long enough to make a difference?” “How do I know that you actually care?” Our response was simple, you will just have to trust us.
6 years later, he is still around. We have gone through highs and lows with Andre but today he trusts. He is turning into an incredible leader and has hopes and dreams for his future and not just for himself but for his family and community. He is one of our key soccer players, is finally back to studying, and is working on a career in coffee. He has been MARKED in a way that his mom says she never thought possible. She says his life has been transformed.
*Name and photos have been changed for safety.