LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

"Hello..."The voice called from the outside of my small house. On checking my watch,it was exactly 9:45p.m.I had fallen asleep on my wooden-made chair around 45 minutes ago while watching the football match between Manchester United and my football team,Arsenal. I rose up sluggishly and went to check who was knocking on my door at that time of the night. On opening the door,I was astonished to meet David looking weary and helpless. David was a 10 year old boy who survived on the mercies of my neighbours. His parents separated while he was 4 years old and he was left under the care of his father. His father however got married to another wife ,6 months after divorcing with David's mum.The second wife was so good to David for the first one year and some few months.However,things started becoming bad for him when the second wife bore a kid for his dad. Out of nowhere,she started mistreating the poor David and overworking him.He was forced to do all the house chores and even farm work yet he was still a kid. His dad was abit afraid of his new wife hence he preffered to remain silent as his son faced all the bad wrath from his wife.

Things started turning from bad to worse and sometimes the poor boy was forced to sleep hungry after a long day of school.When he realized he would never find peace while in that family,he decided to go and look for his mum.He was however astonished to hear that his mum got married far away in the capital city of Kenya  and he was forced to stay with his grandma.This was how I finally came to hear and Know of David for the first time.We lived with his grandmother in the same village hence him staying with her meant we would once in a while come across each other. His grandmother's homestead was one hundred meters from my own homestead .His grandma was not a strong lady due to continuous body sicknesses hence taking care of David was abit hectic for her.She was even unable to pay for her the school fees hence David had to drop out of school and look for new survival means. He was a stranger to most of the people in the village hence approaching people for help was abit difficult for him. His story however caught the attention of many people in the society when his grandmother got seriously sick late at the middle of the night and he's started screaming out for help. Many people woke up from their deep slumber land and went to help the poor David atleast to take her grandmother to the hospital .After that incident,David's story started spreading to the society and many people offered to always help David in whichever way.Despite him being a total stranger, 10 year old ,David , took it as his personal responsibility to visit any person in the village and seek for help when things got bad.

This is therefore how David found himself knocking at my door on 14th December 2016.

"Hey ,kid..."I greeted him as I tried to stretch my thin body probably due to the long sleep.

"Hello sir...Sorry for disturbing you this late...I needed your help, urgently"He politely explained to me.

It was my first time I had seen him come to my house seeking for help hence I remained calm so as to avoid scaring him away.

"How do I help you,kid?Is your grandma sick again?Is everything okey?"I desperately asked him.

"I need food to cook for myself and grandma... Grandma cannot work due to his body sicknesses and I am still young to seek employment."The young boy explained.

His virtual expressions alone were a clear sign of how truthful he was .I could feel his pain and struggle deep in my heart and I therefore decided to help him in whatever capacity I could. I was just a local worker at a construction site bit I was sure my little wages would in a way help save the life of this young boy.

I welcomed him in my house so that I could get to know him more and see how well I could help him.

"How have you been surviving all that ,kid?"I calmly asked him.

"Bythe way,Am David Abuga,son to Gerald Abuga.I came in this village 1 month ago after things had become difficult for me on my homeland.Since then,I have been surviving on the mercies of different strangers .I call them strangers because they are people whom I don't even know their names..."The young boy confidently told me much to my shock.

Before I could ask him any other questions,he continued narrating his story.

"My life there in my grandma's place has been made easier by the good strangers out here. I always visit atleast one homestead every two days to seek for food for myself as well as money to buy drugs for my sick grandmother."The boy shockingly revealed.

All that time,I found it hard to even ask him anything about his past and just decided to wait for him to open up.

"So what school do you attend,David?"I politely asked him.

"I dropped out if school when I came to live with grandma.Things were abit difficult for both of us financially and I agreed to just step down from attending classes"David shockingly revealed.

Seeing how vocal and courageous David was,I decided to be of help to his life .

I gave him a packet of flour that was just placed on the shelf on my kitchen.I also vowed to take him to a public secondary school once the academic calendar resumed.He seemed a bit relieved and for the first time since he had arrived in my house,I saw his face in a lively mood.

"Thank you so much, sir.I don't know how to even appreciate you for your kindness"He tearfully told me.

I asked him to just spend the night in my place so that we could together go to his place the next day to which he glady accepted.

I went to sleep that night feeling lost

Yes,,

 I was lost to a world of thoughts where no one could 

save me...

 The poor boy had lost all the precious diamonds the world had initially given him and his entire life was now at the fate of total strangers in a foreign land.

 I looked up at the rooftop in desperation hoping that 

God could bring back what the devil was trying to snatch away from this poor kid. That night was the hardest experience for me.My thoughts were on the poor boy who was just sleeping next to me. I stepped out of the bed and went outside the house to atleast have a fresh air.The night was cool with a great lighting from the moon and the fireflies.The sky was purely blue and the stars

were brighter than usual with a very stunning message on them.

"Always be good to people,no matter the circumstance.No one knows what tommorow holds"