School on Monday

This is an update about my previous post on Andi.

After sitting in the District Officer's office for two days waiting to get one paper signed, we realized we were running out of time. The deadline for registration was the end of this month. We decided to go to the school, talk to the principal and explain the whole situation.

And that is exactly what we did. The principal was more than willing to let Andi into the school and welcomed him with open arms. He knew that Andi will be able to catch up with the rest of the class (since he is one term behind) and was offering extra studies if he needed it.

So 8am on Monday morning, Andi will be sitting in his first Mechanics class!

Praise God!!!!!

Andi's reaction was different. He wasn't overly grateful or bursting with excitement. He was just plain ready to get going. Ready to start life and do something constructive. Ready to learn. Ready to be something other than a street boy.

A friend came up to me after and said, "I hope this boy knows how much you are doing for him. I hope he is grateful. I hope that he realizes this is life or death. It is education."

I was like, "I am not expecting him to show me his gratitude. Then why do I give? Just so I can be thanked? No, I give cause I love and expect nothing in return. I trust that he will be a good steward of the opportunity God has given him."

I then got on facebook last night and found that one of my friends had posted this as her status. I just sat there and said, YES! This is exactly it.

“Do not give to the poor expecting to get their gratitude so that you can feel good about yourself. If you do, your giving will be short-lived and thin, and that is not what the poor need; it will only impoverish them further. Give only if you have something you must give; give only if you are someone for whom giving is its own reward.”-Dorothy Day


Giving this boy a chance to go to school (actually it wasn't even me who funded it. I found others who actually gave him this chance) is it's own reward. I don't need him to tell me how grateful he is. I want him to know how much God loves and adores him.