6/18/2010
I’d like to tell a story about my relationship with a boy names Brian. Brian is a student at New Hope Primary School in Kibera where he excels in class eight as the highest scoring student. He aspires to be an engineer and a pilot when he gets older and he wants to move to the U.S. Brian lives with his uncle and step-mom in a small house in Kibera; his journey to Kibera is truly heartbreaking. When Brian was a toddler, his father abandoned him and his mother died when he was ten years old. After the loss of his parents, Brian moved to the Kibera slum at the age of 12 where he currently lives with his uncle and step-mom. Ever since Brian moved to Kibera, his uncle and step-mom have been financially unstable. Nevertheless, Brian’s uncle encourages him to conquer all difficulties life throws toward him and to achieve all his goals. Brian is an extremely hard worker at everything he does, including school, sports, and extracurricular activities. The New Hope Primary School is very proud to have Brian as their student and expects him to achieve excellence at everything he attempts.
I first met Brian at New Hope during house visitations; it was destined for me to go to Brian’s home and become the great friends we are today. The group of us journeyed through the alleys of Kibera ten minutes or so and reached the small house of Brian. I saw Brian take his shoes off before he entered so, out of respect, I did the same. I later found out it was not necessary. By doing so, I felt honored to enter his one room home where there was a curtain dividing a small bed from a couch and a coffee table. A trash pile was leaning over me as I sat on the couch comfortably, Brian on the floor leaving on my legs. We shared for an hour or so about Brian and his history and what we could do to improve his financial situation; then we went outside his home to take a picture and head back to New Hope. Something special about Brian struck my heart and I truly enjoyed the time spent with he and his family.
The next few days I gingerly passed by Brian, exchanging hellos and hugs until one day he approached me while I was sitting with some class six girls. He pulled me aside, gave me a hug, told me he really enjoyed the kindness I had showed him at his house by taking my shoes off, and the handed me a note. One this note he mentioned that he truly appreciated the little time we had spent together and he said he wanted to learn more about me and where I come from. He said he would like to stay connected somehow when I journey back to Texas so that he could tell me that, as he stated, “Brian has passed his exams with flying colours!” This note meant so much to me that it impacted my heart while standing before him. I felt like I had made a great friend with someone who I knew so little about yet knew so much.
A few days later during Sports Camp for classes 6, 7, and 8, Brian approached me with a bag and another note. Before this, I had written a short note to Brian explaining how proud I was of his accomplishments in school and how inspiring it was to see this young boy working so hard for a life that was very unlikely for a kid who lives in Kibera. My note obviously meant a lot to him. He created a periscope for me out of cardboard, a shoe box, elmer’s glue, duct tape, and 2 pieces of broken glass. This periscope was possibly the best gift I have ever received from anyone in my life. This was the most thoughtful thing I could think of, even though it was basically made out of trash. I read his note a thousand times because of all the generosity and love that he had put into making this gift for me. Also, Brian had written out a list of English to Swahili translations on the note because he had remembered me saying that I was interested about learning his native language. At the end of the note he had written, “I love you so much and I will never never forget you.” This broke my heart. For anyone to show that amount of compassion because of the small things I had done for him is truly inspiring.
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