Meet My Kids: Yahaya

I hope your heart breaks for Yahaya too

So as I write this, I am crying. I have been putting it off, hoping the situation would change and I could write a happy story for you, but that just isn’t the case right now. For the safety of A.P.I., and my own personal safety, I cannot explain what is going on with Yahaya. I need to respect the government here, and their choices on handling street kids. If you would like to know ways you can be praying for Yahaya specifically, you can  email me about it. What I can say is that Yahaya has been taken away from me right now. I believe that God is going to bring him back to me, and know that it is God’s plan for Yahaya to be in Joseph’s House. But still, it feels devastating and unfair.

Yahaya is possibly the most hopeless child I have ever known. Sometimes it scares me to see the vacant look in his eyes. He is 12, and has been on the streets at least 4 years. Where he came from, and what happened to him before the streets is a mystery. He is unwilling or unable to remember the details of his past. His life on the streets has been no better. He is small, and is beyond victimized, bullied, and beat down. Yahaya also has extreme trust issues- I mean extreme. He cannot trust that any adult can really love him, because in the past adults have hurt him so deeply. He has been in at least 7 homes, and has been unable to stay in any of them.

When I decided to open Joseph’s House, I began searching for Yahaya. It took a long time to find him, and he literally ran away from me the first few times we found him. He didn’t understand what I wanted, or why I was searching for him. He was terrified. And so I was facing the challenge of bonding with this little boy, and I had made a little progress. He no longer ran away, and even looked forward to meeting me. I brought him what he needed, and did everything I said I would (with Yahaya, you have to do exactly what you say you’re going to, else he feels like you lied). I think he even loves me, with the part of his heart that is capable of that. Even still, I know that Yahaya will run away when we bring him home- I will bring him back as many times as it takes, but he will run. He has never lasted in a home more than 24 hours, and at first I think Joseph’s House will feel the same. But I will go the distance to bring him home, whatever that takes.

Unfortunately, Yahaya went from a bad situation, to a possibly worse one. He was living in Kisenyi, where he was cold, beaten, assaulted, starving and sick. Now he is all of those things in a new situation, where I cannot even be with him. And I miss him so much! When I am out with all my other kids, its like there is a hole in my heart where he should be. His absence is painfully obvious to me, and it makes me sick with grief.

How beyond precious is he? Thanks for this pic Abby!

God loves this child. I love this child. You cannot help but love this little boy! He is precious beyond words. Yahaya’s life is a perfect example of injustice; his life, pain and suffering are the reason we are opening Joseph’s House, and what A.P.I stands for (literally). No child deserves a fraction of what he has been through. No child deserves to sleep on the concrete, under a trash bag. No child deserves to be abused, and live in constant fear of their life. No child deserves to starve. No child deserves to be abandoned. No child deserves to be beaten. No child deserves to be lost and forgotten. No child deserves a life void of love.

I hate that my children are on the streets right now. I hate that even when I bring them home, there will be countless others still living that terrible life. But I know that God is moving here, one day at a time. That His plan is perfect, and that He is the ultimate Father and fighter for Yahaya and all these other boys. Please join me in these prayers...

That Yahaya would not loose hope.

That all my little fighters would keep fighting. 

That God would bring Yahaya back to me (please God)!

That our mighty God would fight for justice here in Uganda. 

That Joseph’s House would be opened as soon as I get back to Uganda. 

That God would open the doors for Joseph’s House while I am in the US. 

That the Spirit would send love, joy and protection over all these boys. 

That Jesus would be the ultimate comforter to these children. 

That we, as Christians would never stop this fight. 

That through Christ, my kids will heal. 

That I can show them God’s love.