Heartbroken

Today I met a little boy who came to Oasis for the first time. Emmanuel walked into the clinic room naked. His clothes were being washed, and he had a rash & open sores all over his body, and a bad cut across his leg that he said was from barbed wire. I got him cleaned up and bandaged and wrapped in a blanket while he waited for his clothes to dry.

Later tonight we went back to Oasis for a movie night with the 25 boys that are staying there so they don't have to stay on the streets. Somehow this little boy wandered in after everyone else, and didn't have a seat, so he ended up on my lap. Emmanuel sat on my lap for the entire movie. Several times he started to fall asleep and I had to catch him from falling forward off my lap. I tried to get him to lay back on my chest but he kept resisting and sitting up straight, only to fall forward again. I think he ate popcorn for the first time; he wasn't sure what to do with it at first.

Finally when the movie was over I asked Laila to translate for me. His story is that his family just moved from a nearby town, and today he couldn't find his mom. He looked all over downtown Kitale for her. I suspect that he was left intentionally. If his mother really wanted to keep track of him or find him, she could have. An older boy from Oasis suggested that he just come with him until they could find his mom.

We asked his age, and he said he didn't know. He looks like he can't be over age 5, but he could be older and just very malnourished and skinny. He looked like a deer in headlights.  He must be so scared. He must be so traumatized. My eyes welled with tears as we tried to get more information out of him. He was stone-faced. I'm heartbroken that a tiny child, no older than 6, has just been abandoned. I know it happens all the time. I know he's not the only one. I know it's not rare where I live. But tonight, this one broke my heart.