December 2003

Maxime's story - Fear of the Unknown

EILIZABETH LAWRENCE
Street Patrol Medical Worker

This month while working with the street children one incident has stayed with me. While being funny in part it also made me see a more serious side.

Recently Odessa had celebrated its Birthday and there were lots of celebrations in town. I have seen that many public holidays and celebrations end in tears for the street children and are not a cause for real celebration.

This time was no exception and Maxime ended the day with a head injury requiring stitches. Maxime is 17 years old and is one of the older boys who comes to the feeding programme. Two weeks later he came and asked me to look at and clean the wound. I told Maxime that the stitches needed to come out and would he let me remove them? His reply was that it was to early and may be tomorrow I could remove them. I found out that the real reason was he was afraid it would really hurt and I could not persuade him otherwise.

It was surprising to see a tough boy who despite living a difficult and often violent life on the street was still afraid of the pain a few stitches might cause! This is really a fear of the unknown, of not knowing what it would be like. Many street children are afraid of the unknown and have been hurt so many times before that they are very reluctant to look to the future and make decisions or changes about their lives preferring the "safety" of what they know despite all the dangers and degradation of street life.

It took Maxime a few days before he came up to me and said " you can take them out tomorrow and I will have a drink of something before I come, so I won't feel it" The something of course being Vodka !

It still took another few days before Maxime returned and finally let me remove the stitches.

While reflecting on this it made me realize that if it takes so long just to face having a few stitches removed, how much more courage and determination must it take to actually face the unknown by leaving street life behind if they are given the opportunity. Trying to change by their own effort is very hard and the children often give up. This is why I believe they so much need to know and experience the love and saving grace of God first, that changes not only their minds but also their hearts.

Elizabeth removing Maxime's stiches.