Mennonite
Central
Committee

Lebanon: LEISWAD Home of Hope

July 2005

Mohammed, 15, came to Home of Hope about three years ago from the streets of the Rauche section of Beirut. Rauche is known as a wealthier neighborhood, an upper class business section; therefore, a good place to shoplift and beg. Mohammed, due to an abusive father and stepmother at home, took to the streets at age six and by age nine was employed by an auto mechanic who paid him less than $5.00 per week, working him hard and mistreating him. Once out on the streets, Mohammed did as many street children do, he turned to glue sniffing for his highs.

Staff at Home of Hope remember well how angry, violent and hard to control he was when he arrived. However, he was at the Center only five months before asking if two of his sisters could also join him. His wish for something of the family unit was granted when his one sister came to the Home. An older sister visits occasionally for several days each month.

"Mohammed finds it very hard to express his ideas and feelings in words; therefore he will act out violently at times. His actions are a mix of loving to help and care for others while often turning violent," comments the staff psycho-therapist at Home of Hope. "But he is very intelligent, and considering that he came to us at age 12 with no formal schooling whatever, he is now first in his class."

Sports--soccer in particular--are Mohammed’s chief delight. He's so proud to play forward or "attack," as it comes out in Arabic. "When I score a goal I'm happy for the entire team," he says. Beyond the immediate and participation on the soccer team, Mohammed dreams of receiving an education. When asked what he'd like to do when he grows up, it came out that he might turn to auto mechanics, a throwback, of course, to learning something of the trade when a young child.

To look at Mohammed you see beautiful eyes, the potential of a lovely smile, and a very reticent adolescent. He demonstrates artistic talent, as we were able to witness when he flipped through his sketch/scrapbook of pictures drawn freehand, traced, or cut out from elsewhere and inserted. We were drawn to several sketches of his--a mother holding a baby in her arms while giving it a bottle; frequently his freehand drawings are mother and family oriented. He told us about one of his pictures depicting a house without windows. "The windows are there," he explained, "but you can't see them. It is morning; father is out watering plants; mother is inside washing dishes with daughters helping her. Other children are playing soccer outside, behind the house somewhere."

We wonder what life has in store for Mohammed sometime down the road after Home of Hope. With the help of Global Family sponsors, he now has a chance to receive loving care and affection, but it takes a long time to become a whole person after years of what Mohammed witnessed in a totally dysfunctional home – while he was at home – and life on the streets.

 

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