Sourcing Hope

One of the boys we met with this last week in Yungay at the Casa Girasoles Kusi is a young man who I have known for years. I first met him at another one of the Union Biblica Girasoles homes called Kawai.

He is a delightful young man of 21, who is the strong and silent type. He rarely talks unless he is spoken to and has a quiet demeanor that hides a very complex life. For purposes of his confidentiality, I am going to call him Wilbur.

Wilbur lived at Casa Girasoles Kawai for years. In fact, in the almost 20-years that I have been traveling to Kawai I have a hard time ever remembering a time when Wilbur wasn't at the home. I have been told a bit about his background. I was once told that he came from a life that could only be described as hard. He has a little brother who is also at the Casa Girasoles home in Kusi. I know he is very protective of his little brother.

A worker once told me that Wilbur had been through so much in his life on the streets partly because he worked so hard to protect his younger brother. Protect him from prostitution, stealing, fighting and any other manner of survival that living on the streets requires. I have also know Wilbur to be very quiet about his past. I totally understand why.

A few years back Wilbur and a friend of his were crossing the busy Pan-American Highway that runs just outside of the front gates to the Casa Girasoles Kawai. The Pan-American highway is a strange series of constantly expanding and contracting roadways of two to four lanes. There is a steady stream of trucks, buses and private vehicles - all traveling at very high speeds.  It can be very hard to distinguish the "layers" of traffic on the road - as cars will often travel in slipstreams to save fuel. Well, on this day Wilbur and his friend watched a bus traveling a high speeds from a distance and judged the exact time they would need to race past the vehicle to the center island of the highway. Unbeknownst to them, next to this bus - under cover of the inside lane and in the shadow of the large bus - was a truck. Wilbur's friend ran out first. He was instantly struck by the speeding truck. Wilbur's "two-steps-behind" pace provided just enough distance to prevent him from meeting the same fate.

I am certain the scene of the accident was one of pure horror. I have been told by a Union Biblica staff person that it was like a "war scene." Wilbur, being the courageous boy that he was (and is) cradled his friend while a bystander ran for help. Wilbur later told a staff person that he held his friend as he died. He said he looked into his eyes as he passed away.

The pain and anguish of holding a dear friend as they die would be nearly impossible for anyone to process and deal with. It is that much harder for a young man who has known nothing but pain in his short life.  Shortly after the accident, Wilbur asked to be sent to the Casa Girasoles Kusi home in Yungay. He wanted to start over and find a new life.

This week when we were at the Girasoles home in Yungay, Wilbur told a Union Biblica staff person that he has been unable to "think clearly" since the death of his friend. He also confided that he continues to feel "pain deep in his head." 

I think that some of our work in the trips we take to the Casa Girasoles homes is about our work to support the infrastructure and program development for Union Biblica. And, I think a lot of our work is about being present to the suffering of boys like Wilbur. Certainly, I can never take away the pain and the horrible suffering that Wilbur has been through in his life . . . though I sure wish I could. I guess the one thing I can do is hold a place for Wilbur's healing. I can be present to his pain and I can not forget his story.

Tonight as I speed through sky in a plane bound for Portland and home to my two wonderful ladies - I will hold Wilbur deeply in my thoughts and prayers. Through my constant allegiance to his story, I feel I can show him the respect and love that he so surely deserves. And, most of all I can work to shape a world where young boys like Wilbur never end up on the streets in the first place.