Hope

 

 

Carrying scraps consisting of empty plastic bottles, empty cans of various beverages, and galvanized iron left from houses and various construction sites to be loaded into my cart was my previous job here in our place.

 

I am the child of necessitous parents. Actually, we were five children of my parents and I am their youngest child. My parents' job was to pick up garbage such as empty milk cans, bottles, plastic bottles and other garbage that could be sold and turned into money.

 

 

 

Aside from that, every time it rains, we get really wet because the roof of our house was full of holes.

In addition, if it rains, my siblings and I do not sleep, especially if the downpour reaches the night, we all do not sleep because we were looking for a place in our house where we would not get wet from the rain water that passed through the holes in the roof of our house. In fact, our house was just made of old pieces of wood with its walls. And, the floor was only made of bamboo sticks. The roof of our house was made of galvanized iron that my parents scrapped. But I still keep hoping to go to a school and finish a course. My dream was to become a teacher so that I could help children shape their good and bright future. But my parents still don't know what I'm dreaming about in my heart.

When I was ten years old, I helped my parents to pick and dig garbage so that we could sell it and make money.

Heavy metal and plastic drinking containers that we had lifted and up. We would load our trashed metal and plastic in our cart that we always take with us every day. And then, we would immediately sell it so that my brothers and I could make money.

 

But one day, the owner of the land that our hut was built on appeared. He informed us that he would evict us from that land because he would use it.

But my father and mother did not agree because my parents wanted the land owner  to pay us a small amount of money so that we could use it to build a new house.

Then, the land owner had promised to my parents that he would give some amount of money to my parents so that they could start to look for another area that we could build our new hut. After he made his promise, the land owner left us, riding on his new car.

Then, I and my blood brothers and blood sisters were going back to a waste-yard, to conglomerate some scraps that could still be sold and turned into some pennies.

 

 

 

My brothers and I endured rain and heat just to earn money and buy food every day. Even if the weather was bad, we still collect scraps, we don't mind that we get wet from the rain during the rainy season. And we don't mind the heat of the sun when it's summer, we could only earn money to financially help our parents.

There were also times when I felt like I was standing on the side of the very muddy road while I was carrying half of my empty plastic bottles on my shoulder. My nose was getting muddy. However, I never let go of half of my bag of empty plastic bottles of mineral water even if I got muddy. All the people who saw me all laughed mockingly. "Oy! The buffalo was fasting in the field!" But I just let them go. What I had in mind was to make a lot of money so that I could help my parents. I also plan to save money that I could use so that I could actually go to school and achieve my dream of becoming a teacher. Then, one night, while my mother Rina and I were eating with my four siblings and my father Arthuro was also there, I told them that I would go to school in grade one, I also told them that I really want to be a teacher However , they just laughed and said together, "It's very difficult for you to be a teacher, Nurdon. It's because we are just garbage collectors. We can't even eat almost three times a day.". Even though they just laughed and mocked me, I never lost hope that I would be able to go to school. "Simply, only the Lord would set everything up. He knows the desire of my heart so even if you laugh at me, I would continue to pray that one day I would be able to go to school and become a teacher.". I was still crying a little and my eyes were stained with tearswhile saying those words. It hurts to think that my family, who I was supposed to support me so that I can achieve my dream, was instead mocking and discouraging me.

 

I keep thinking about positive things, including that one day I would be able to achieve what my heart desires, which was to become a teacher. I don't stop picking up different kinds of garbage just so I can earn and save money. I also accompanied it with a very firm prayer to the Lord. One of those afternoons, there was a group of children and there was also a man carrying a small book near where I was digging for garbage. That man was a preacher and the small book he brought was a Bible. A lot of young people attended because there was also food feeding afterwards. And I really listened to what the Bible Study Teacher said and taught. I actually left my cart full of garbage that I was going to weigh. Even though the T-shirt I'm wearing doesn't look good because it's so dirty, I don't care. Many people looked at me and they all criticized me, but I continued to listen to that preacher. And there I learned that the Lord will answer all prayers if they are accompanied by faith. Since then, I believed more and hoped and prayed to the Lord that He would help me achieve what I dreamed of. And, a few months later, the owner of the land where our hut was situated came back. I thought he was going to give my parents money because he was going to expel us from that land, but he informed us that he would not evict us because he felt sorry for us. He is a Christian pastor. And most of all, he helped me go to school. "What do you want to achieve, Nurdon?" He asked me. "I really want to be a teacher." I cried a little because of happiness. "If that's the case, you're the one we're looking for. We're really looking for a student who wants to be a teacher." words of the pastor with a smile.

 

Now, I am a History teacher and my parents and siblings are doing well because I also helped them when I became a teacher.