Anything is Possible

It has always been the same ever since I could remember. Waking up to the hooting noise of cars passing by and sounds from people walking down the streets marching to their usual jobs. I had to wake up now and start my normal duties-collecting plastics enough to sell for some money to buy food.

It had always been like this for as long as I could remember. I did not have any family but I had some friends who helped me get through the never-ending piercing cold that was the night. I always thought that I was not going to see another day but luckily, for the past six years, I have been able to survive, and if I could guess I would say I was around twelve years old.

Life seemed impossible and was extremely hard at first. I had to fight my way through the streets to defend whatever I was able to salvage from the garbage sites where we usually went to collect plastics and anything of value before selling them to recycling companies. I was never alone. There were others just like me who had to wake up at the break of dawn and either start begging for money or food. But when that did not work, we had to go back to the garbage site.

Even though this was always the norm, I always had hope that things would get better. We had heard stories of white people adopting orphans and politicians and famous people taking in street kids and we prayed that maybe someday we would be my lucky ones.

But until then we had to learn how to survive and make the most of what we had. The thing we prayed for the most was good health and safety from other older street kids who would bully us out of our daily findings. We also had a lot of problems with the county council whose main aim was to clear the streets of us, street kids, in any way necessary.

With such odds of survival, I decided to look for a better solution by approaching a local carpenter and ask him for a job. Being skeptical, he decided to start me off with minor duties like cleaning up the place and painting his final products. While doing so, I always kept an eye on him trying to learn how he did his job. At other times, I would make sure I finish my duties early so that I could ask for more work. I did this hoping that he would give me some of his work- which meant that he would have to teach me first, and that was exactly what I wanted. In less than four months he had given me pointers on how to make different kinds of furniture and in no time I was able to prove my worth by making him a coffee table with its complimentary seats. This pleased him so much so that he gave me even more duties which meant more money and experience for me.

I confess that this was the opportunity that changed my life and I know that if I keep at it I will one day be able to save enough money to open a shop and hopefully get a chance to help other kids just like me. I understand now that it does not take much to change someone’s life. It could be as little as the time and opportunity you give to someone- however small, to fully caring and nurturing them like your own. Do not shy away from helping those that have little to none as the little you have might just be everything they have been looking for. As for me, by taking one step at a time, I have faith that I can do anything and be anything if I work hard, have hope and pray because anything is possible.

Roger T – A retired freelance writer. He writes articles on different topics. This factious story is to motivate the youth.