THE TWELVE-season 3,episode 14

LIBERIA

                 Another call was made that evening, this time from Lindsay to Cindy. Perhaps that night was a very lucky night for the girls who had been trying none stop to get in touch with each other. Lindsay was alone in the room when she made this call and Cindy was alone in the room reading a book when she answered it. Just like Maul and Zodiac they were filled with joy hearing from each other.

“Hello Cindy,”

“Lindsay,” She dropped the book.

“Oh thank God I finally got to you,” she was happy but calm.

“I’ve been calling you all but the lines are terrible,”

“Same here Cindy, how are you guys doing, how did you arrive?”

“We got here safe and got a fairly nice house to live in….. The airport driver who carried us, we ended up paying to live in his house,”

Lindsay laughed.

“Very funny right, that’s really all we could think of at that time.”

“I understand dear, we got here safe too and we got a nice place to live in. we are not sharing with anybody though. How is the work there? Sudan is tough hey,”

“I’ve got a headache,” Cindy said.

“Massive?”

“Stress,” Cindy replied.

“I thought you had Max to take very good care of you,”

Cindy laughed. “No just kidding, we are pulling through though it is very tough,”

“Like stone rock tough right,”

“Granite,”

“I know, I never thought anything will be this difficult but I thank God he is making a way for us,”

“Oh yes he is.”

“You know Liberia is a tough country, too many things are rough here, and they are just in the game of rituals.”

“Does it constitute taking people’s lives?”

“I don’t know but I know some of the children are just fortunate to still be alive though most of their relatives are dead.”

“I noticed, it’s almost similar here, they look like slaves.”

“What about hunger?”

“Yes, they are starving,”

“It’s similar up here too,”

“Do you think we have to do it their way before we get their interest? Do you think we have to follow their every tradition and just squeeze our own to fit in?”

“No,” Lindsay’s reply was confident. “Do you know why? Because their ways is the reason for the crisis, we cannot rebuild something we haven’t first of all demolished. It is better we do it without compromise or we don’t do it at all. We must face oppositions Cindy but we won’t lose our virtue. We are here to conquer and conquer we must. Have you had any threats?”

“The weather and atmosphere alone is a threat, I was so scared before. I’m still trying to get use to,”

Lindsay smiled. “Me too, Thank God I came with an African boy who knows a lot about the African way,”

“Oh I missed him, I missed all of you. How are your assistants?”

“They are doing great, I just feel sorry because they haven’t been able to call home.”

“Tell them to keep trying it will work out just like ours.”

“Yeah I will. No matter what let’s keep it going in one faith, the children’s crisis must be averted and every child will be cherished for who he or she is,”

“Yes that’s the dream. I missed the twelve,”

“The twelve will be back soon into a more perfect unity. Take care of yourself Cindy and greet the others okay,”

“I will and take care too. I love you very, very much sister,”

“I love you too sister; let us keep trying to call the others,”

“Sure, I won’t stop trying.”

“Talk to you later,”

“Yeah later,”

The lines were cut.

ZIMBABWE

              After an hour of consistent dialing, Shania was lucky to get the phone from Kenya ringing and it was Shelly.

“Shania,” she replied when she got her voice.

“Shelly,” Shania screamed from inside and no one heard her because all the others were outside at the fire hearing stories from the village kids and Shelly had come to take her jacket.

“Shania is this really you?”

“Yes Shelly, yes….. I’ve been trying to call you guys ever since and it’s just not working and finally I got you,”

“Me too Shania, we all have been really worried about you guys. How did you arrive?”

“Very well and we are doing ok, got a place to stay too.”

“Same here, we live in a small camp with lots of sick children. There’s a clinic here too that takes care of them.”

“Wow, it’s been like never before,” Shania sat. “So long without communicating,”

“Yeah but how are things going on over there in Zimbabwe?”

“Hmm Shelly, it’s very tough here. Their food is bad; people are dying of hunger….. The street children are so many,”

“Really, so how are you getting along with the children, how do you plan to fulfill your mission there?”

“That’s one question difficult for me to answer,”

“But how, you and Larry have to define it.”

“Yesterday we went to this young woman’s house, she takes care of some orphans and most of them just starve to dead. She said nobody wants to help her and she’d been trying all alone. Do you know the most hurting thing?”

“No,”

“We were there Shelly, when this young boy came and pleaded with her not to let his sister starve to dead but she couldn’t do anything,” she still felt like crying and Shelly heard it from her voice.

“Did you guys interfere? Did you do anything to save her life?”

“We did, thank God we had some supplements and vitamins to give her. We gave her water, bought some fruits and food for them all. They are doing ok now,”

Shelly took a deep breath. “You guys should not stop doing that good until we are out this ok,”

“Yes,”

“We have to create a platform on which we can stand and tell the children the truth so they can believe in something that will change their lives forever. Do they understand English?”

“Yeah most of them,” her voice was steady now. “How are you guys doing in Kenya?”

“We are fine; Michael and the others are doing great. We are going to use this place to start building that platform, we already got the people in charge to give us the chance to help the kids here and we are starting effective work on Monday. It’s already two weeks gone remember,”

“Can I forget? I’m totally happy for you guys there.”

“It might be a little difficult because we are just starting and it’s first of its kind, when we succeed every venture we take will be less difficult.”

“You are right, it’s always hard to make people understand at first but when they do things begin to fall in place.”

“You get the point.”

“Say hi to big brother for us, the others are outside listening to stories from some of the kids around,”

“Wow cool, you should go join them. It’s a good ground.”

“I will, I feel revived now that I talked to you at least I know the others are definitely doing ok,”

“Yes they are. Greet Larry and the others as well, I will tell the others we were able to talk.”

“Ok, talk to later,”

“Yeah later,”

The lines were cut and Shania went out to join the others. She was wearing this fine smile and this fine jacket as she sat with them. Larry and the others welcomed her with a smile and the story they were listening to was going on and it was fun and interesting. After three of the kids had told their stories, the floor was given to Larry and his crew to tell their own stories and Larry was given the chance to talk. He spoke to them in a way they could understand him and truly the children did understand him, they were some new things Shania and the others were discovering about Larry’s experience on the streets and it made them realize that truly a man with hope and believe can conquer any obstacle and build the universe he dreams of and become the person he envisioned his or herself to be.

LIBERIA

                Lindsay and Ben decided to warm the morning sun, they sat at the corridor step waiting for their assistants to call them in for the breakfast they were making.

“I spoke to Cindy last night,” She said.

“You say?” Ben was surprised at the news.

“Yeah after a long persistent dialing of all the numbers they got from their new Sim cards, luckily I got Cindy.”

“And you didn’t even call me?” he was still excited.

“I couldn’t get you at that time sorry,”

“Wait, how are they?”

“She said they arrived safe and they are perching with the airport driver who carried them.”

“You mean they live in his house?”

“Yeah and pay him too…..”

Ben laughed. “I am glad they are doing ok at least I know it’s same with the others.”

“Yeah they equally couldn’t call because of the lines too but we are positive they are fine.”

“Yeah, how are they coping in Sudan?”

Lindsay was almost answering that question but was interrupted by Ben who coughed out loud and he felt a pain in his chest due to the pressure exerted on his chest as he coughed out.

“Are you ok?” Lindsay asked looking worried at him.

“Yes,” He rubbed his chest. “I’m fine, I just need some water.”

“Ok I will go get it…..” Lindsay went inside for the water and Ben was still feeling a sharp pain on his chest.

THE TWELVE-season 3,episode 13

RWANDA

                 Ken and zodiac decided to visit Lydia and they were accompanied by Shorsha. They left their assistants with the other children at the camp to get familiar with the kids there and get to equally know their stories and experiences. Lydia on the other hand felt greatly honored to have the two members of the group she loved and admired so much sitting in her little mud house. They were surrounded by Lydia’s little ones who were staring at them like some aliens, Lydia was not embarrassed by the state of her house but she felt really happy and privileged to have them visit her.

“We came because we heard of what happened,” Zodiac said. “This is Ken,”

“Saw him once on TV,” she giggled at him and Ken smiled.

“It’s nice meeting you Lydia,” Ken said. “Heard you can sing,”

“I was blessed by the gift,” she smiled.

“You were blessed with the gift,” Ken gently corrected her. “God gave you the gift so you were blessed with it not by it. You have lovely siblings,”

She smiled and nodded shyly.

“So what happened, why did Wangshari send you and your little once away?”

Suddenly she felt uncomfortable and stammered looking at Shorsha for help but she was willing to help.

“Did you do anything wrong?” Ken asked.

“He hates me, he has no empathy….” She tearfully said. “He doesn’t like I and my little ones,”

“Why does he hate you?” Zodiac asked.

“Because I someday stole from him when we were still staying in the camp,”

“Why did you steal from him?”

“My juniors were bitterly in hunger and the time for eating had not arrived, time was taking so long and they needed food badly. I begged him at the first but he pushed me away, see I had no choice because I couldn’t stand watch my juniors die hunger so I went to kitchen and took the rice they had boiled and kept so I could feed them but then they caught me and this man sent me away without pity,”

He story was sad and though Zodiac and Ken knew stealing was bad they could understand why she did it. Her siblings were still very young to sustain that kind of hunger.

“You know we eat in the camp just once a day right? Twice when we are lucky,” Shorsha said. “Things only changed when you came, now we eat twice because they want to buy your favor.”

“We understand what you kids are going through,” Ken said.

“Make us to be like you,” Lydia pleaded. “Please, I beg you take us out of this misery, we want to be like you……. I want to be like you.”

“We are going to take you all out of here someday,” Zodiac said. ‘But you have to help us; we need to make our fellow mates understand that the power to build our dreams and make our lives beautiful lies in our hands, not in the hands of anybody.”

“No….. They won’t even believe you.” Shorsha said. “Where is the dream, people like us don’t dream because this is the end of the road for us. We will grow up in that camp and sold off to any man who pretends to take interest in us. Those on the streets face endless cruelty, our rights have been taking away from us, and they are violated by many adults, many times who were supposed to protect us. In many cases we are subjected to sexual harassment in return for food or clothes or even a night shelter. Often police will detain us and beat us without cause. We don’t have any hope and even our dreams will always just be dreams.”

“There is a world of possibility waiting for you all out there Shorsha, just open your heart and believe it.” Ken told her.

“Is this world of possibility able to stop the children’s crisis all over the world?”

“Yes it is,” Zodiac said. “Only if children like you and I stand up for those who are not strong enough, only if we stand up and bring them to believe in the beauty of their dreams and the chances for its possibility. Both of you are heroes to your generation and the children’s world awaits people like you to stand up for them and fight so join us to fight this crisis and we shall win it with the almighty God on our side,”

“You know God too?” Lydia asked. “I and Shorsha always study the bible. It made us learn English with my little ones.”

“Wow that’s very cool,” Ken smiled. “How did you get the bible?”

“From missionaries,” Shorsha replied.

“Amazing, then we can study the bible together, build our faith from there and learn strategies on how to win this crisis from our great forefathers of faith.”

Shorsha and Lydia became excited about learning more from the bible, even the little ones were happy about studying the bible with Ken and Zodiac and they started their studies that same day.

                      When it was getting dark in New York Jan decided to take a quick tour to Rubel’s house since he had already left the office. She knocked persistently at the front door and Rubel could not ignore it and whoever it was, he was ready to receive. He walked to the door.

“Who is it?” he asked aloud.

“Rubel it’s me Jan,” she said outside. “I need to talk to you,”

He then opened the door and she quickly walked in.

“What’s up Jan,” He asked copiously. “What is wrong?”

“Too many things are wrong,” she sat down without being offered a seat.

“What can it be?” He sat too.

“The twelve, have you heard from them?”

“No I haven’t and yes that borders me too,”

“I really don’t know why we can’t contact them….. I left them several mails but no response.”

“Did you forget so soon, they didn’t travel with gadgets, just cell phones and I’m sure the network that way is hindering our communication with them.”

“But is it that way?”

“It’s Africa Jan, what do you expect?”

“The more reason why I’m so worried.”

“The good news is, Moscow and Lennon went over to Botswana to check on the progress of the camp.”

“It’s already in construction?” her anxiety was replaced by a fresh delight.

“Yes,” Rubel proudly said. “A hundred and fifty expert builders flew into Botswana and laid the foundation in two days, one hundred other expert builders flew to Botswana yesterday to start the full construction and as I’m talking to you right now, every building material has been supplied, the workers are extremely enthusiastic to see the camp put in place and they are working on a fair discount as their own way of support. In five months time, the biggest house in the world must have been complete.”

Jan smiled, she could imagine the expression on the twelve’s face when they finally see their world and all the children living in it as they dreamt.

“Wow, I can’t wait to see how this whole thing ends up.”

“Gloriously I bet you because we are all praying hard for that to happen and God will answer us for sure.”

“Moscow should try calling them from there since he is in Africa,” Jan said.

“He said he will and if things work out well he will get back to me and I will let you know,”

Jan took a deep breath and relaxed.

“Please don’t forget,”

“I won’t,”

“What are you up to now since you left Randy?”

“I and Chris are planning to start a label of our own with Duncan being our first signed artist.”

“Wow that will be great any way I can help just let me know.”

“But we have decided to wait till the twelve’s return.”

“You sure about this,”

“Of course, we still need to stand on guard for them till they arrive safely our lives will never go back to normal,”

Rubel was amazed at their commitment to the twelve and he was no doubt a part of it.

RWANDA

                 Later that night, Zodiac and her team where laying on their beds, some were reading and others were desperately trying to call home but the lines were still not going through. After so many tries others gave up but Zodiac kept on trying with Ken just admiring her efforts, she tried few more times and she didn’t even realize when the phone started ringing because she was already use to the beep that comes before the voice telling her the lines are busy.

“Zodiac it’s ringing,” Ken told her then she realized it was ringing…… she screamed and then hut her mouth with her hands. Maul was almost closing her eyes when she heard her phone ring beside her, she jacked up from the bed and quickly pressed the answer button and when she said hello all the others woke up.

“Zodiac,” She screamed.

“Maul…… oh my God I’m so happy to hear your voice,” she was on loud and so was Maul.

“Me too, me too Zodiac…. How have you guys been?”

“Hey Zodiac,” Zed said through the phone.

“Hey Zodiac,” All the others said.

“Hey guys, I missed you all so much. How are you all?”

“We are doing ok,” Zed said. “How is Ken?”

“Pastor Ken,” Maul added.

“I missed you Maul,’ Ken said. “Hey brother, hey guys we are all greeting.”

“We’ve tried calling to no avail,” Zodiac said.

“I guess it’s a general network problem,” Maul said. “We tried calling you all several times but the lines keep failing.”

“That means you’ve not heard from the others?”

“No but I’m sure they are alright, since you guys are right?”

“Yeah I too, how Is Sierra Leone?”

“It is ok; full of street children and we are surrounded by Muslims here. Got into a mosque earlier today,”

“What?” they all exclaimed.

“Zed’s idea but it turned out great though, we were given a chance to talk to the children and that will be on Monday.”

“Wow it’s a great thing you are making progress,” Ken said.

“How is Rwanda?” Zed asked.

“It’s full of street children too; the cases here are so complicated. We live in a camp with some orphans, nice place.”

“Really, we live in a nice house too. We just have a room with a bathroom and a small parlor but it’s conducive. We don’t even know how to begin sharing the dream; they hardly understand anything we say,”

“Here too,” Ken said. “But we just have to start with the opportunity God gives us, stay focus and keep leaning on his direction.’

“Thank you pastor Ken,” Maul said. “So glad we could talk, I feel boosted right now,”

They all laughed.

“I’m serious,” She said.

“We all do Maul. My phone credit is expiring, I will have to refill and try calling the others.”

“Yeah we will do same,” Maul said. “We all will try calling from here and our assistants can also try calling home, let their parents know they are doing ok….”

“Sure, talk to you later. We love you all,”

“We love you all too,” The group from Sierra Leone responded and the lines were cut.

THE TWELVE-season 3,episode 12

                                                               SIERRA LEONE

The prayers at the mosque had ended and nothing was as horrifying for Maul even though they didn’t get into the mosque because they were not properly dressed for it. She had urged them to go severally but Zed wanted them to wait till the prayers were done so they will get a chance to talk to the children. As the thousands of people started streaming out, Zed and her crew realized they wouldn’t get a chance to talk to the children that way, nobody even noticed them, they just discussed in their language as they passed them.

“Let’s go in and have a look at the mosque inside,” Zed said.

“What, Zed are you going crazy?” Maul retorted.

“I am not going crazy ok, trust me you will love it in there. I and the boys use to sneak into mosque like this and the view inside is amazing.”

“What if we get caught?”  Marshall asked.

“The world will come for our rescue,” He smiled at her. “Common guys,” He ran through the few people who were still leaving the mosque, Maul and the others followed him. When they got into the mosque, there were no chairs just a few mats spread across the huge hall. They had an alter but no pulpit, Maul and the others were a little scared but Zed confidently led the way, it was a life he was once used to. In their minds they knew they were all alone but that thought was quickly erased with great fear as they saw an alahadji leaving from the door at the altar. They thought of going back but it was too late, he had already spotted them.

“Imposters,” He yelled and his voice echoed in the hall. He came down from the altar with his hands wrapped behind him and approached them, they were shivering and Maul couldn’t stop blaming Zed in her heart.

“We are not imposters,” Zed managed to speak and luckily for them the man recognized them as part of the twelve.

“You,” He pointed at them both. “I know you, aren’t part of the twelve?”

“We are,” Maul said hoping that will help.

“What are you kids doing here?” he asked.

“Well sir,” Zed hesitated.

“Omar, call me Omar… no sir,”

“Okay, we came for……”

“Vacation,” He interrupted. “Why will you choose Sierra Leone of all the countries in the world?”

They didn’t have an answer.

“Though I’m not a huge fan,” He said. “But I enjoyed your story as the twelve, how you boys fought to make your dreams come through…… almost getting yourselves killed, was there any truth in that story by the way?”

“Everything you heard was the truth, I am a black Botswana boy, grew up in the streets just like you heard.”

“And the meeting in the middle of the sea?”

“All true,” Maul was finally calm.

“Excellent, then God has just blessed the nation of Sierra Leone with your coming here, where are the others?”

“We separated,” Maul said.

“Separated,”

“Not like that,” Zed told him. “They went to their own place of vacation,”

“Understood, I will like you to come and share some of your experience with the children here.”

That was a delight for the children hearing it.

“Though some of them don’t understand English I will get you an interpreter. How long will you be here?”

“Six months,” Nora said.

“Good, that’s time enough to transform the mindset of the Sierra Leone kids; I will be expecting you here on Monday 5:00pm.”

“We will be there sir…… Omar,” Maul smiled at him but he didn’t find anything she said funny.

“Leave the mosque,” He said and went back to the room he came from. The children ran out of the mosque jubilantly because of what had just happened and the opportunity they had just gotten.

ZIMBABWE

                   Later the next day, Larry and his crew went to the house Shania had told them about. The entrance to the house was more like a dungeon, dark, cold and wet. The door was opened but they could not see anything inside the house because it was dark and shielded with a white blind that had turned brown. The young woman who had the place met them outside while coming to throw the dirt she was holding. She looked stressed and pale and she was very welcoming and friendly just like every good mother should be. Though she was not sure of what the six beautiful and handsome neat young teenagers wanted with her that late afternoon, she still attended to them.

“Good afternoon,” Larry greeted and the others smiled at her. Shania was not comfortable yet.

“Good afternoon,” she replied. “How may I help you?” she asked.

“We came to see you,” Larry told her.

She became nervous. “Why? I heard some rich kids were around our area are you lost?” she was polite.

“No,” Shania managed to speak. “I passed by here yesterday and I saw you taking care of some children…. Are they yours?”

She smiled. “No but I consider them mine, I took them in because they had nowhere else to go.”

A little boy came out from the house and whispered loudly to her.

“Edna, Memphis is dying. You mustn’t let her die,” He wept.

The woman smiled hopelessly and fearfully. “There is nothing I can do,” she looked away from that desperate gaze clouded with the pain of losing a child. She attended back to Shania and her crew who were staring at her.

“You know, don’t you Edna,” Shania said. “You won’t let her die right?”

Tears brimmed in Edna’s eyes; she bit her lips and shook her head glancing at the boy going away in tears.

“You have to save her,” Paco told her.

“I can’t save her,” She shouted tearfully. “I’ve tried all I can to save her and no one wants to help. They keep starving to dead; Memphis will starve to dead because I don’t have anything more to do.”

“Where are they?” Shania asked.

“In there?”

“Can we see them please?”

“Yes,” She led them into the house and they were shocked by what they saw. Ten children, four girls and six boys lying on the floor mat. Their eyes had become very white and they almost looked like skeletons, they saw the boy who had spoken to Edna outside lying beside the girl Memphis who was dying. Shania held her mouth with her hand and tears was streaming down their eyes, they were stricken with compassion and pity for the dying and hopeless children they saw.

“Paco,” Shania whispered, her voice was shaking. “Go with Miguel, run and get….. The supplements we came with, the juice and the water. Get money and buy whatever fruits you can find and then bring it, you will go back for food at the restaurant we always eat.”

They both nodded with tears in their eyes and rushed off.

“I have water in my back,” Ruby said. “And some supplements we can give her to hold on till they get back.”

“Yes Ruby, bring it.”  Larry said. Edna gave them space to do whatever they wanted to do, the other children watched as they raised Memphis to sit up with Shania holding her bony self to her chest sitting on the mat. Shania forgot about the awful scent that was oozing from her body, all she cared about was to see Memphis revived out of that situation.

“You are going to be fine ok, God please don’t let her die…… God won’t let you die,” She spoke to her ears as if she could hear her. Ruby fed the water into her mouth and she managed to drink it struggling with life and dead. The children started sobbing; they had less energy to cry. Larry and Soledad went about consoling them, fitting into their mouth the supplements and vitamins Ruby had given. They sweetness of the supplements and vitamins made them stop crying and they like what was in their mouths, it helped them regain energy and Edna was relieved, she helped all the children up with the hope that something good was about to happen to them. Few minutes later, Paco and Miguel brought all the things they were asked to bring. The children were served with good drinking water, some fruits and more vitamins and supplements were given to them, Memphis life was saved though she was still weak but she was not dying anymore. The children had been sustained while Paco and Miguel had gone to buy the kind of food Edna had suggested will be good for the children at that moment. Memphis was one of the youngest kids in the house and Shania was carrying her and feeding her, Larry was proud of her and so were the others.

LIBERIA

                  Lindsay, Ben and their assistants were going through the books they had brought with them.

“You know I think we over estimated this children,” Barbra said.

“How do you mean?” Lindsay asked her.

“I mean look at the books. Big topics, large chapters with words that can confuse your mind, giving these books to these children will be like giving a toothless baby an apple to bite.”

They all smiled.

“We can’t give them these books, at least not just yet.” Ben said. “What we need to do is make them know they can recover from whatever situation they are in now, make them know there is a big possibility for them to be free from this slavery they were put in.”

“But how do we do that?” Annabel asked. “They just think we are here to flood them with gifts and food or maybe create a connection between them and the rich world.”

“If we keep asking ourselves that question we might not even find an answer for the next six months we have to be here.” Lindsay said. “We have to start anyhow with any little opportunity we find and that is why we won’t stop going out till we get the children’s attention.”

And that’s all they needed to hear. They nodded in agreement and repacked all the books they brought.

THE TWELVE-season 3,episode 11

                                                         

                                                              SIERRA LEONE

             On that Friday Maul and her crew noticed that majority of the people around that area were going somewhere. They stopped some of the children passing by to ask what was going on but the ones they asked didn’t understand their English. They decided to try the elderly and they got an answer from one of them, he told them they all were going to the mosque for Friday worship.

“I think we should go to the mosque,” Zed suggested and it was not all well accepted.

“What will we be doing in mosque?” Maul asked. “Are you going to join Islamism?”

“No Maul but can’t you see, majority of the children are going there both the Christians and none Christians.”

Their assistants allowed them make the decision.

“So,”

“So that’s where we can get the child, that’s where we can get access to them.”

“No,” Maul shook her head strongly. “This is too much,”

“We have to do the too much to be able to accomplish our goal for coming here within just six months.”

There was silence for a while.

“Common Maul,” Zed held her hand. “We have to do this. Let’s go,”

She looked at him and the others staring her and from their looks she knew they were with Zed.

“Okay fine, let’s go worship at the mosque,”

“We are not going to worship at the mosque; we are not even a part of what they are doing there. God knows that.”

“Sure he does, sure he does.”

“Let us go with this people so we don’t miss our way.” Zed said and against Maul’s better judgment she followed them.

                                                               KENYA

                   “If we fail here, what will be the consequence of our failure?” Michael asked Shelly in the room. They were both fixing their dresses perfectly into their bags.

“We could die if we don’t follow the steps God is showing us,” she replied.

“So death is one of the consequences?” Michael asked.

“Death is the only consequence if we fail here,”

“Excuse me,” Tyler came in. “The head doctor wants to see you both.”

“The head doctor,” There was some delight in Shelly.

“Yes,”

Michael smiled. “This is what we were waiting for. Tyler get the others, we are all going there.”

“He is at the refectory,” Tyler said. “We will meet you guys there.”

“Let’s go,” Shelly completely forgot the dresses, Michael kept the one he was holding and followed.  Few minutes on they walked into the refectory with their assistants following behind. The head doctor was surprised to see them; Hemi had spoken to him about her discussion with Shelly and their opting to help.

“Good day sir,” Michael greeted and so did his crew.

“Good day kids,” the doctor replied then he turned to Hemi. “Hemi how do you expect kids like this to raise kids like that out of depression?"

“Sir…..” Shelly said.

“Doctor Chris,” He swiftly interrupted her.

“Doctor Chris, we just need a chance to help.” Shelly went on. “There’s nothing difficult in helping people like them.”

“There’s nothing difficult,” He folded his arms and nodded. “I have given all I ever had to see that these children have a better life even if it is not all so luxurious like what you have enjoyed. I’ve worked hard, begged for assistance of which I’m always ignored and just by chance I get a few people who care to join me support this children either by supplying meds, food, good water and this shelter you see today. I left my country and everything I knew to come here and establish this and I’ve been doing it for ten years thanks to Hemi who partnered with me. We have given our all for these poor orphans and I won’t want some spoilt brads who got tired of their mommies and daddies over protective attitude running into my sweat to make a mockery of it.”

Michael looked deep into the doctor’s eyes.

“Do you have children?” he asked.

“Yes and why do you ask?"  he replied.

“Where are they?” Michael asked.

“Schooling abroad where I came from,”

“No matter how much love you have for these poor children here it can never take the place of your own children and that is why you can send your children to school and this ones you just manage to nurse them from the excess you have. Not that I’m judging you, you have done a great work in the lives of those kids just by providing security for them. I grew up on the streets….”

That was a shocking truth for those hearing it for their first time.

“From my very little age, I remember I was just about four when I became an orphan…… I slightly knew my mom and my dad I had no idea of who he was. Thank God for the great friends I met on the streets and together we grew up like brothers, fighting for our survival. When we got to a certain age, we decided to stop sleeping on the streets because we had had enough of the brutality and maltreatment we were getting from the police and other men. My story is too long and time will fail me to tell you how we squeezed our way through education but in all this just one thing kept us, we had a dream, we always believed that we are no different from those children abroad, we knew that God made us equal as them, he gave us a destiny to fulfill and it was all wasting because we are never given the opportunity to become. We are either used to make others rich and wealthy or used to clean the floors for some people to come walk pass through. We fought and our faith in the destiny God had made for us gave us hope, our faith in God gave us strength and then we found ourselves living the dream, our dream life. So doctor, we can never make a mockery of your sweat because more than you we understand what those children are going through. We can help not because we are capable but because we know where this road leads to and we know how to come out of it.”

Hemi and the doctor went cold and speechless.

“No amount of food and medicine can truly help those children in there,” Shelly said. “They need to know and feel they are better than their present situation, they need to know this God who loves them unconditional, who is their father and their protector, they need to know someone cares for them so much that he gave his life so that they will live a more better life, they need to know that their future is much brighter than the sun they see outside. They need to know Christ and his love that can make them free, free from their pain and the disease, and the sickness that has infiltrated their health. That is the help we want to render.”

“What is your mission here?” The doctor asked.

“She just defined it,” Tyler replied.

“How will you achieve all this?” Hemi asked.

“We ourselves don’t even know,” Michael said. “But we believe in the God who called us and sent us.”

“I still don’t believe in what you kids are up to,” the doctor said. “If you fail at this you will be dead.”

“Don’t worry sir; we already passed from dead to life just by coming here.” Joy said with a smile.

The doctor left with Hemi. Michael walked and hugged Shelly and they all knew she deserved that because she had clearly allowed the Holy Spirit define their mission in Kenya through her.