From Street Kid to Student Leader

My son, Derek won an award at school this week. This was an award
for Friendship and Leadership on the playground at school. When
they gave Derek this award they said that he was the leader on the
playground. The teacher brought Derek up in front of the school to tell
him that he is kind, plays fair and gives everyone a chance. She talked
about how he takes initiative to start activities and includes everyone
in the games he starts, making sure that everyone gets along and
plays well together. She went so far as to say that if they had behavior
problems before Derek came to their school, they don’t anymore,
because Derek helps everyone work out their problems and makes sure
there is no conflict on the playground. My favorite comment was when
she said that Derek shows respect to everyone he encounters, adults
and children alike. They even had his name engraved on a plaque in the
school office!

Derek spent the first six years of his life in Kitale , Kenya, abandoned by
his birthmother, fighting for survival, protecting his younger brother
and ending up spending years as a streetkid….the lowest rung of the
societal ladder. Derek survived by begging for food, sleeping in a
gunnysack on the dirt and frequently digging through trashbins to find
scraps of discarded food to eat. In Kenya streetkids are called chokara,
which literally means trashdigger….or one who lives in the trash,
because of their need to dig through trash for sustenance. Because we
have ignored, forgotten and abused these kids, society has relegated
them to their life in the trashheaps of our world, not considering them
worthy of our time, resources, energy and love. Treating them as just so
much trash, disposable and worthless.

My son Derek is not worthless. Derek is a leader at his school. In fact,
Derek is THE leader at his school. He just won an award to prove
it. Derek has come into a mostly white, wealthy, highly educated
community and showed the children at his school how to get along.
Regardless of what the world may have thought of him when he lived on
the street, inside of him was actually the same amazing leader who won
the “Leadership” award at his “award winning” school this week. Even
if every streetkid is not a leader, every child has the right to be treated
as a person of value and worth, not as a piece of trash to be used and

disposed of as worthless. It is intolerable that our society allows this. It
is irresponsible that our society allows it. It is not wise that our society
allows this. Streetkids are amazing, resilient, resourceful, creative
humans who were born to be leaders in our world, born to bring joy
to families who can love them, born to be contributing members of
society. We are missing out on an incredible resource for our families,
our communities and our world.

Not every streetkid needs to be adopted into an American family
like Derek to be able to achieve this potential, but EVERY streetkid
deserves to be loved and valued. Every streetkid deserves to be cared
for, nurtured and cherished. Every streetkid has potential inside just
waiting to be given the chance to flourish and grow. There are children
just like Derek on every street of our world, waiting to lead if only
someone would give them a chance. Join Until Then in giving them a
chance to be who they were created to be.

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