THE BOY CHILD

WHO CELEBRATES THE BOY CHILD?

I know a boy whose name is Andrew…
He has two younger sisters.
He is a boy of maybe 9 or 10 years old. His mom left him and the siblings to their grandparent’s care soon after his father died at a very young age.
His grandmother was the only one taking care of them by then, as his grandfather is a drunk and maltreats them. But his grandmother was old and could not actually afford to care for them.
I and my family used to assist a little here and there. Sometimes he would come begging for Garri, sometimes it would be rice.
I would ask him to stay and eat in our house, but he would say he has to take it home so his sister's would also have something to eat.
Even though he didn't have ingredients to cook with, he would usually cook white rice, where him, with his sister's and grandmother would eat.
The drunk Grandfather would occasionally come home drunk having already eaten in a restaurant.
I occasionally sent him on small errands and pay him money so he could survive with. He is a hard worker and occasionally(as young as he is) goes out to work in building construction sites so as to get money.
In 2015 the grandmother who was the only one that looked after them died. The mom visited for the burial but then disappeared again.
He was left to fend for himself and the siblings.
Life kept getting harder as he took the responsibility of a 40 year old.

Amongst the constant maltreatment from the grandfather, his uncle and how hard life was, he would start picking things he didn't own without permission. Slowly he was becoming a thief.
Just recently, I found out that the mother came and carried the sister's and left him there to struggle under constant maltreatment...
Why am I posting this Story???
Yesterday was international day for the girl child, and I wept for the boy child who have suffered even more than the girl child…
Occasionally, this struggle leads them to bad association and destroys whatever good dream they had for the future.
And eventually, with the little options they had, they soon fraternize with the bad habits around them as it seems like the only way out.
I understand (am not saying it's right) when there is gender segregation in adults, but when we do it to a child, it makes me weep!
A boy child is being robbed of his future, exposed to the burden of a 40yr old, left to fend for himself and occasionally being called a thief and left on the street. It's happening everywhere in the world.
While the girl child is taken into homes, given clean clothes and told to work as house helps, who will take the boy child off the street?
While I am aware of the miserable things the girl child passes through and clearly deserves to be celebrated, WHO WILL CELEBRATE THE BOY CHILD???
For the man he was in a boy,
A father in a child,
A mother in a male,
Who will celebrate Andrew???

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