Dreams on Hold

Aside from injury or death, one of the worst pieces of news parents would hear is,  'I am going to be a dad.'   This bit of news was delivered to us the other day.

Immediately I thought about how all his dreams and hopes were going to be put aside, maybe forever. My next thought was, this boy in a man's body is continuing the cycle that plagues this nation,  "Children giving birth to children".

All the discussions about birth control, abstinence and the desire for their children to not grow up in a home with only one parent seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.  We're familiar with children growing up in fatherless houses, mom's abandoning their children, aunts and grandma's doing the best they can to feed the many mouths in their homes.  And because of all this, children, teens and young adults want so much for someone to love them.

Something we have discovered is that the Nica culture looks at sex differently than Americans or Christians do.   From the time they are born, children have been exposed to sexual relationships. There is no privacy in the typical poor Nica home.  Everyone shares what might be the one and only room in the house.  If they are lucky enough to have a piece of plastic on a line separating beds, little ears hear things.  And it's very common for adults and children to share beds.  Sexuality and nudity are as natural to them as breathing.

Americans are considered uptight because of our biblical views.  In the local churches it is so common to have the young girls pregnant more than once and it is celebrated.  I have yet to hear of a concern for the well being of the young pregnant mom or the future of the unborn child.

Right now, I am not very popular in our home.  I have asked that the young mother-to-be go back to her community and be with her mother.  She is only 16 years old, she needs her mother.  She ran away and she is afraid to return to her family.  I cannot help her, I do not know the language well enough, I do not know the customs well enough.

I have been insistent that as long as our Nica son wants our help, he will need to do as we request to talk his girl friend in to going home.  He will be financially responsible and the time apart will give them both the space they need to decide their future.

Our boy is in shock, he's concerned about the added responsibilities.  He is also determined to be an involved daddy.  He wants more for his child than the circumstances he endured of his own childhood.  Noel has been working hard to have his own business.  He has already purchased his first tricyclo taxi.  His goal is to own three taxis by March.

We too are in shock, but God says his mercies are new every morning.