OUR STREET BOYS

(This entry was written March 28, 2020, 17 months after we left Kinshasa.  I want to finish my blog book for my mission, but I need to include this tender part of our mission.  I have not written it earlier, simply because it is too emotional for me to remember how much I learned from being with these sweethearts.) 

The temple construction site had a high block wall all around it.  There was a gate entering into the property.  Outside the gate there were several young “street-boys” that begged for anything they could get people to give them. Because we were in a fairly affluent area, they had people give them food and money, when they gave their much practiced hungry, big eye looks.  They were not allowed inside the wall, but they set up little cardboard beds along the outside of the wall.  They had a sheet of tin, they would climb under, when it rained.   

They enjoyed peeking over the fence in the morning to watch our prayer meetings. One Sunday, one of the boys hung out by the gate of the adjoining property, which was where the stake center was. This was also our ward building. We asked the boy if he would like to come into church with us. He said he would, and we took him inside. His name was Mechack, and he was an orphan. He attended every Sunday for several months. When we went home to the US for a visit, we returned with a church outfit for him, including a white shirt and tie. He was thrilled.

Mechack was 12 years old. He decided he wanted to be baptized. The day of his baptism, Mechack was dressed in his white baptismal clothes, and we were walking into the church when we received a call from the missionaries. They said they had just found out that Mechack couldn’t be baptized, because he didn’t have a parent or guardian to sign the papers. We were all very sad, but Mechack kept coming to church.  He started to bring his friends to church with him.  They would wash up at the leaking fire hydrant in front of the church and I would help them get dressed.  

The other couple missionaries were very good to the boys.They especially loved to sit next to Stan or Justin.  They let him play games on their tablets during sacrament meetings. This was not a good idea, as they were more interested in the video games than sacrament meeting.  The bishop befriended them.  I told him that since they lived on the streets in his ward, and coming to church, they were his ward's investigators.




One week Mechack brought five of the other street boys with him, two were older than he was, and sort of the ringleaders of this group of street boys.  All of their clothes were very dirty and ragged, but I had collected enough shorts and t-shirts for his friends to wear into Sacrament meeting and into primary and priesthood.  I would gather the clothes up after the meetings and bring them back each week. 

The week after he brought the five boys, I could tell he was nervous about something.  He didn’t want to wear his good Sunday outfit.  They changed clothes in the construction office.  One by one, each of the boys were given their nice shorts or pants and a shirt to wear to church, and then they went out the door to wait to walk over to church together.  I walked out the door with the last boy,  and was surprised that I couldn’t see any of the boys there.  When I asked where they were, the gate guards said they had gone outside, one at a time.  I finally realized that I had been robbed of all the church clothes I had collected by a bunch of street urchins who wanted to keep those nice clothes.  They had all disbursed down the side streets, even Meechack.  I was furious!

The next day the boys were back at the gate again, some in their rags, some in the stolen clothes!  I scolded them, but since most of them only spoke the tribal language, they just laughed.  Meechack came back and gave me back the clothes he had taken and apologized.  I could tell that the bigger boys made him do it.  

I decided that I could possibly help Mechack, and other younger street boys, if I taught them to read French.  Being literate is a huge advantage in Kinshasa.  I started teaching them daily.  Right after we had the prayer on the job, I would walk out the gates and gather up the boys who were interested.  I usually had at least 2 or 3 boys. I taught the in a classroom at church.  They loved being in that beautiful building and were fascinated with the picture of Christ.  

Classes lasted for about two months, and some of them actually learned to read some.  Moise was the sharpest and attended class the most regularly.  I cared a great deal about those we were teaching.  In addition to Mechack, I had a little boy by the name of Moise, who was very slow learning, but we let him come with us daily, just so he could be part of the group.  I wouldn’t let any of the obnoxious older boys into the class.  Just the sweet ones who were really there to learn. 

 

 

After two months, I had grown so attached to Mechack and Moise, that I asked if they would like to get off the streets and go live in an orphanage.  I suppose I had become way too attached.  We had stayed close to Philamene and the Kaka Orphanage.  Philomene said she would take them, but we had to get it approved by the government.  We hired a young returned missionary to help us coordinate it.  He arranged to have government officials come out and interview the boys, to see if they were truly orphans, or if they had parents who might claim them.  We paid all the fees, and finally the day arrived for the two boys to leave.  We bought them new clothes and back packs for the move.  They were thrilled.  We scrubbed the 2 boys clean with water on the job site. 

When they were ready, we had a taxi drive onto the job site, and we shut the gates.  We put the boys in the back seat of the taxi and had them crouch down.  We didn’t want the big boys, the leaders of the street kids, to see them leave.  We knew they might create problems.  

The orphanage was a good hour away from the temple job site, where the boys hung out day and night. When we got there the next day to visit, they were excited about the move and going to school and having food and friends.  However, they had never had rules to follow, and the orphanage was quite strict.  Moise went to the local school, but Meechack was smart and we sent him to the private school and paid for his uniforms, entrance fees and tuition.  Philomene became their legal guardian, so she could sign the papers for them to be baptized, after our mission was over.  However, Moise couldn’t handle the rules and ran away back to the street by the temple site after just a couple of weeks.  Mechack lasted about three months, and then he got into trouble at the orphanage, as he was accused of stealing.  Soon after that he went back to the street gang of kids, where he could be a free spirit.  We love to remember them on this happy day they headed for the orphanage.

We saw Mechack outside the gate when we went back for dedication.  I told him to let the Bishop know if he wanted to return to the orphanage and the school.  We never heard from him again.  We did hear that the bishop opened a home for the street kids in the area, and we hope Mechack and Moise were able to follow the few rules, and that they could stay there.  We had to learn to accept the concept of free agency, and we felt a bit of the pain that our Father in Heaven must feel when his children make poor choices.  Perhaps some day, as they grow up, they will remember the good feelings of being at church and return. We know the Lord loves these boys.  We are grateful to have learned from these street kids, and we will never, ever forget them.