By Priyanka Zacharias | International Strategic Partnerships Manager
Loma (name changed to protect child’s identity) was born in Addis Ababa and is 12 years old. He used to live with his mother and younger brother; his father had mental health issues and is not around.
Urbanisation led to their home in the city being demolished, and with nowhere else to go, his mother was forced to raise her two children on the streets. That is where Loma lived with his mother, until he was 12 years. He could never go to school because the family was always moving from place to place.
His mother washed clothes for money. One day she didn’t return from work, and after searching for her for hours, Loma couldn’t remember the way back to their plastic tent. The police found him wandering around and referred him to a government-owned rehabilitation centre for boys. After almost six months, social workers decided to reintegrate him with his mother, but when they looked for her in the places where she might be, they learned that she had passed away. Loma went through the unbearably painful experience of hearing about her death, standing right there in front of the people telling the social workers about it.
Back at the centre, Loma cried all night. He decided to run away, and after waiting for the perfect moment, escaped from the compound and went back to the streets. But things didn’t go well. He was sexually abused multiple times and as a result developed double incontinence. People avoided him: he had no friends and no one talked to him. He started smoking cigarettes and sniffing glue.
That was when the Retrak outreach team found him. Loma had given up expecting anyone to even approach him, let alone care for him. At the Canaan Lighthouse in Addis Ababa he was offered appropriate treatment and psychological support, and just a few months later is now free from his addictions and incontinence issues. Loma is continuing to make progress, and works as a shoeshine boy in his spare time which means he has been able to save some money.
When Loma joined our centre he couldn’t recognise words and numbers because he hadn’t even completed grade one at school. The teachers assessed him and provided him with an individualized learning program. Now he performs well in subjects like Amharic (one of the main languages in Ethiopia), English, Science and Mathematics, and his hard work has shown dramatic change, far above the grade level he would be at if he was at school. Loma is very keen to learn – in class, he is focused and listens attentively to his teachers. He is also a good story-teller because he loves to read.
Loma is a student who motivates other children as well as the teachers. His eagerness to learn, coupled with the teachers’ support, has helped him to become one of the most competent students in the class, repeatedly being selected as ‘Star of the Week’.
In 2018 (to date), in Ethiopia, Retrak provided shelter in its Lighthouses to 591 children (228 girls and 363 boys), providing them with a safe place to rebuild their lives and start the journey back to family-based care. The work Retrak does is life-changing for children and families and we cannot do this without your generous support. Thank you for supporting our project in Ethiopia which helps us to work with more children like Loma!
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