Yahita

The child can't sit still. Orphaned and abandoned, he was rescued by people who had an orphanage. But when the government said Christians can't do social programs because they might convert someone, the orphanage was abrubtly taken away from them and put in government control. The workers were all fired and replaced with untrained people who wanted income. Yahita was fortunate enough to be well loved by one of the workers. Secretly, she invited him to come and live at her house. They pretend she is his grandma. He goes to school, but doesn't dare tell anyone at school who he is, where he is from, or what his true story is. Because his 'grandma' is a Christian, she would not be allowed to adopt him legally. So Yahita can't sit still, no matter where he is. It makes it hard to do school work. But it's his inner self, worried, you know, about things. Things like memories of loosing the home his orphanage was, like memories that are buried, about being an orphan. Worried about not being able to explain at school about Isa, the Jesus that his grandma loves, that made her want to adopt him. Worried that someone might find out and separate them. She is his family, the only one who loves him, and if they made him go to another orphanage, well, he would just run away. But he doesn't want to run. He wants to go to school, he loves to learn, he loves, especially to paint.

But he can't sit still, so he often gets whipped with the cane. It doesn't help, but it does make the other boys tease him. He wants to belong to them, but he can't, really. They like to torture animals and bully. He doesn't want to join in, he wants to paint, but if he is not a part of the boys, he is teased even more. So he can't sit still.

Until this week.

He went with his grandma to church and they were painting at the front of church, during worship. He was enthralled. So enthralled he sat still. His grandma noticed and told the artist. The artist looked deep into Yahita's eyes and said, "You are an artist, Yahita!" Something touched his heart. He took a deep breath, smiled, and sat back down. This time, when the pastor was teaching, he could listen. He heard about Jesus with his heart, not his worry. After church he asked the pastor to pray with him. He felt something melt away. Then he went home and found a pencil and paper and began to draw. He drew just what the artist had been drawing at church. His grandma was so surprised that she took the drawing and showed the pastor the next day. The pastor showed the artist. The artist told Grandma that he would teach Yahita.

Yahita can sit still now. He loves to paint, and he has also started piano lessons.

Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash