New Year’s Gift

The New Year has begun, and we set goals and plans to achieve more this year, but for people like Desmond, life didn’t look any better.

His family was still living in a one-room apartment, his father was still repairing shoes to make a living, and his mother didn’t even take a break from her peddling business during the holidays because they needed to survive. Although they received care packages from prominent members of society who distributed food and clothing to needy families during the holidays, with such a large family of five children and two adults, the donations quickly ran out and there was no hope of replenishing the supplies.

So the New Year’s anticipation did not bring him joy, but rather fear, as it seemed to be another year of hunger, longing, and fear of the unknown. How was his family going to survive in the face of the increased cost of living, in the face of ever-increasing insecurity, of children being arrested in broad daylight without anyone batting an eye, he could not allow his younger ones to continue selling water bags in the parking lot. As if dropping out of community college wasn’t enough, he also had to take odd jobs in the new year, which meant he had less time to study with his borrowed textbooks.

Life had dealt him a hard blow at a young age, but he was willing to go through thick and thin for his passion – all he needed was the support in some form that would fund his dream and make life easier for his family.

This year, work on yourself and help others in your city, too.
Be the New Year’s gift someone needs.