Wilmer went back to the streets last Thursday. He has been with the Micah Project since last July, when he decided to leave his “home” underneath one of the bridges of Tegucigalpa to enter our group home. As a thirteen year old, Wilmer has spent the last several years of his life as a street kid. His older brother, who had already been on the streets, was the one who introduced Wilmer to street life and, particularly, to the addictive yellow glue that traps the kids on the streets once they get there. With his stepfather in jail for a violent crime and his mom moving from room to room in squalid motels in the market district, there didn’t seem to be much hope for Wilmer.
Since joining the Micah Project, Wilmer has struggled to get beyond his addiction to yellow glue. When you get addicted at such a young age, that overpowering need becomes such a part of who you are that it is very, very difficult to overcome. Several times during the past few months, this little boy has left the Micah House and gone back to the streets in order to feed his addiction.
Once such incident was this last Thursday. In an unguarded moment, Wilmer slipped away from the house and went back to the outdoor market district of Tegucigalpa. Less than an hour later, he was high on yellow glue. A couple of our older guys went to search for him on Friday, with no luck. On Saturday, my day off, I decided to do a swing through the market district to see if I could find him. As I was walking down a busy downtown street on the way to the market, two street kids went running by me, laughing and chasing one another. A third street kid was running about fifty feet behind them, trying to catch up. It was Wilmer! He was about to run right by me without noticing that I was there, when I stretched out my arm, causing him to run right into me!
When he looked at me, it looked like he had seen a ghost. All three kids stopped and gathered around me. I began to talk to Wilmer about why he left the Micah House. He was pretty high, which made him subdued and fairly unresponsive. When I asked him to come with me back to the Micah House, he kept telling me that he couldn’t leave his two friends. I responded that, if he wanted to help them, continuing his education was the best way! Using drugs with them on the streets would not help. Wilmer continued to be pretty distant, until I received a call on my cell phone from Becca, who was at a pool with the other Micah guys. I put Wilmer on the phone with Becca, who then passed him around to talk to the other guys. Slowly, Wilmer’s face and vocal expressions began to change. Before he even hung up, he shook hands with the other two street kids as a way to say good-bye. When the phone call was finished, we started to walk back to the Micah House.
Since joining the Micah Project, Wilmer has struggled to get beyond his addiction to yellow glue. When you get addicted at such a young age, that overpowering need becomes such a part of who you are that it is very, very difficult to overcome. Several times during the past few months, this little boy has left the Micah House and gone back to the streets in order to feed his addiction.
Once such incident was this last Thursday. In an unguarded moment, Wilmer slipped away from the house and went back to the outdoor market district of Tegucigalpa. Less than an hour later, he was high on yellow glue. A couple of our older guys went to search for him on Friday, with no luck. On Saturday, my day off, I decided to do a swing through the market district to see if I could find him. As I was walking down a busy downtown street on the way to the market, two street kids went running by me, laughing and chasing one another. A third street kid was running about fifty feet behind them, trying to catch up. It was Wilmer! He was about to run right by me without noticing that I was there, when I stretched out my arm, causing him to run right into me!
When he looked at me, it looked like he had seen a ghost. All three kids stopped and gathered around me. I began to talk to Wilmer about why he left the Micah House. He was pretty high, which made him subdued and fairly unresponsive. When I asked him to come with me back to the Micah House, he kept telling me that he couldn’t leave his two friends. I responded that, if he wanted to help them, continuing his education was the best way! Using drugs with them on the streets would not help. Wilmer continued to be pretty distant, until I received a call on my cell phone from Becca, who was at a pool with the other Micah guys. I put Wilmer on the phone with Becca, who then passed him around to talk to the other guys. Slowly, Wilmer’s face and vocal expressions began to change. Before he even hung up, he shook hands with the other two street kids as a way to say good-bye. When the phone call was finished, we started to walk back to the Micah House.
By the time we got back, Wilmer was the same affectionate kid that we have grown to love. Today, Sunday, he seems calm ready to get back in the swing of things. We thank God for protecting Wilmer while he was on the streets and for allowing us to find him before he got too consumed into street life again. Putting Wilmer directly in my path and having Becca place a well-timed phone call when he was deciding between Micah or the streets were God’s way of intervening on Wilmer’s behalf. He truly is an awesome God! It reminds me of a verse in Psalm 139, which our guys are currently memorizing: “If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
Please pray that God’s light would continue to shine in Wilmer’s life; that he would not continue to choose the utter darkness of street life and drug addiction.
Michael
Michael
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