Enock & Ebenezer.

Public speaking, being abandoned, and moths all make my head spin and my heart race. These things scare me more than anything else, but my fears pale in comparison to what my students here face every day. When I talk about my CGA trips, the question I’m asked is, “What is the hardest part?” I always answer with, “Leaving the kids.” I say that because leaving them breaks my heart, and it is one of the hardest parts, but listening to their stories is just as hard and just as heartbreaking.
Enock and Ebenezer are two of the brightest boys I’ve ever met. They exude love and happiness, and after meeting their mother and visiting their home, I know why. The house is a twelve by twelve-foot room. There is a double bed on the wall across from the door where the boys and their mother sleep, a couch is pressed to the wall on each side of the room, and a coffee table between them. On the floor next to the buckets of water, there is a small kerosene stove; there is no electricity or running water. The house was dimly lit; the only window was boarded up. At first, I was confused about why the room was so dark, but after meeting Mama E, I knew why. Enock and Ebenezer’s mother has lived in a dark world for thirty-eight years; she is completely blind. While at their house, I talked to her about a lot of things. The topic she could really lose herself in was talking about her boys. She told me about their love for school and for football (soccer) but didn’t say anything about their father at first. That soon changed when I discovered that when Ebenezer was four and Enock was three, he took them away from Mama E. He had them for almost eight years. Each day was filled with abuse, neglect, and endless worry for Mama E. While they were with him, he would beat them if they asked about school and made them live outside so they could watch his herd when the boys were seven. Mama E told us that the only thing that scared her more than the boys starving when school wasn’t in session was their father taking them again.
I can’t begin to imagine what the stress of fearing your children may be taken from you at any moment is like, or the fear of not being able to feed your children when schools aren’t in session because you don’t have a steady income.
Enock and Ebenezer have each taken a piece of my heart and have changed my life for good. I was fortunate enough to see both boys thrive not only in a classroom setting but also on the football field. Although you may find the boys cracking jokes in the back of the classroom, they are always on their A-game, the first to finish, and are two of the hardest working kids in my class.
Even though listening to the stories of the people here is one of the hardest parts, it is one of the most important and impactful experience someone could have while on a CGA trip.