Huge Hands

Let me introduce you to one of my friends. His name is Robert. He is one of the uncles (helpers) for the street ministry with Abaana. Robert is one of the older and larger uncles. He is around 6 foot and has a large smile. However, he is quite shy and rather quiet. He is well respected in the community, which you can tell by the people who speak to him as we walk around the streets. His hands are strong and, well, they are huge.

Robert came to the streets in 2002 when both of his parents passed away. At the time he was 16. He found his way to the Abaana Street Reach, where he learned about God and His love for others. After a year on the streets he was able to receive support to enter into secondary school (high school). While he was in school he began to understudy with a teacher who taught him how to carve wood. However, his teacher and mentor passed away before he could finish. Robert again found himself looking for a way to finish his education. Again someone locally stepped forward and in 2006, Robert was able to become a licensed carver.

Due to his time on the streets battling and struggling each day, Robert knew he wanted to do something to help those boys who still found themselves on the street. So he decided to use his gifts to raise money for the boys and teach them just as he was taught. Today, Robert works 5 days a week with a group of former street boys from Abaana in a group they call Never Lose Hope. Each day they meet with the boys in the slums and teach them English, math, life lessons, teach them about the Bible, play games, and generally help them have a hope that they can overcome the streets. When he finishes each day he heads over to his workshop in the slums.

Tuesday, I had the chance to visit the workshop and spend some time with my friend. Since it was the last week of the month, Abaana Street Reach was not taking place, so Robert was hard at work. Several of the street boys were there. Why? Because Robert has taught them how to make bracelets and necklaces from the beads that the other uncles make. He then sells them at the market and uses the money to buy them food. The workshop is hidden amongst the slum buildings. Winding through the cardboard and aluminum of homes and down passageways you reach the 8 foot by 8 foot area. Cardboard crammed among old tree limbs make the walls and wood chips make up the floor. Fishing line hangs from the walls to be used for the jewelry. A line also runs across the room where finished pieces hang to go to the market. A wood stool sits in one corner where unfinished carvings lay waiting to be polished and then stained. Robert tossed some of the beads on the top of a can and laid them in the middle of the room for us to get busy making necklaces. After awhile I decided that I wasn’t going to finish a necklace, and I was getting pretty hot in the poorly ventilated area. As I was walking out I grabbed one of the unfinished pieces to inspect it further and then Robert came around the corner. He grabbed the stool, a piece of wood, the chisel, and then said, “Here, you try.” Robert carves little huts that look like the straw huts you see in the villages. He showed me how to chisel it down and I got started. Robert watched me with a smile on his face and then disappeared to go work on something else. Ten minutes later he came back and laughed. He took the chisel in his hands and told me to grip it firmly. Then he started carving and in 30 seconds did more than I had previously done. I started back to work as Robert started working on a log that he brought back from his storage area. “Oops!” I had just messed up the roof. Robert looked at me, smiled and held out his hands asking for the chisel and the hut. He quickly fixed my mistake and shaped the rest of the house into something familiar. He handed it back to me with a “You are doing good.” After I gave out another oops, again for messing up the same roof, Robert took it from me and in three minutes had the piece finished and ready for the detail work. He never complained, just smiled. He looked over and saw the smallest scratch of blood on my knuckle and asked if I was alright. “Yeah,” I said. My knuckle was fine, but the blisters on my hands were hurting. I watched as he took his machete and chopped fragments of wood from the log. By the time we were leaving, you could see the formation of Mary holding Jesus coming out of the grain. I asked Robert how many pieces he would do in a week. He told me at least 5 small one a day, and 3 large ones in a week. Each Sunday he goes to his booth in another part of town to sell his carvings. The money pays for his home and food, but it also pays for the other street kids around.

This Sunday we had the chance to go to the home for street boys that Robert and some of the other uncles have started. The home is about the size of a master bedroom. 8 boys sleep in bunks on one side and then the floor is open on the other for homework and crafts. Outside is a chicken coup which provides food and a little income. The boys come to live and get to go to school, for which the uncles raise the money for their school fees. They don’t force them to remain, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they don’t know how to go back to living in a structured environment. But the uncles keep trying. Robert told me the landlord is doing something new with the building so they are out at the end of December. He is happy about that though. “I want to get a new house with more room, away from the slums. I don’t like it that they see the slums each day, cause it reminds them of where they are, not where they can be.” Robert told me in the future they want to be able to house 50 boys. I asked him when the future was. He told me he didn’t know, but 30 boys will come first. I smiled and laughed at him as we dreamed together.

Robert is one of many people I have met, who have been taken from the streets to make a life, only to return to rescue those still there. His hands are huge. He uses them to carve wood, but God uses them to lift street boys to freedom.