Born into the ‘wrong’ family?

By ANNE ANJAO-eboi

Do you sometimes feel you were born into the wrong family? Like every other family around you seems to have it all together, but yours seems like hell on earth?

But what would make you think God made a mistake? What would cause a person to hate his ancestry and desire a different one?

Usually, when a person comes to this point, something is definitely wrong. It could be that the father of the home is messed up, hardly ever keeps a job, is a drunk and wife beater, and is simply insolent.

The mother may be taking care of the financial needs of the home, but perhaps through illegal means such as prostitution, begging or simply hustling excessively. Or she could even be somebody’s mistress.

RUMOUR

The siblings in the home are themselves a package. The eldest brother left home many years ago, and has not been seen since. Rumour has it that he is in Lamu.

Someone is sent to look for him. He is indeed found: He is married to a local woman, with whom they have five children, having forgotten the faithful wife he left in the village with two children. Elders are called in to sort out this mess.

Sister number one was fed up with the chaos in the home when she was only 19. She could not stand seeing her mother battered every day. If she was late coming home from school minutes without kicks and slaps. Worse, she could no longer stand her uncle’s forced carnal knowledge of her every other day.

So she eloped with a devil worse than the devils she had left in her own home. She now lives in a slum, with her six children from different fathers, having divorced her abusive husband.

After passing her Class Eight exams, there was no money to take sister number two to high school. Actually, the money was there but her father was busy spending it on prostitutes. With nothing else to do, and with one thing leading to another, she is one of the most sought after call girls on Koinange Street.

SPONSORSHIP

However, brother two, against all odds, has managed to pull himself out of the filth his family is in. Through a foundation and the sheer desire to succeed, he got sponsorship up to university. He now has a good job, is married, and is educating his two younger siblings.

All around him are families that meet once or twice a year, to make merry and simply have fun. He is at a loss how to marshal his relatives for such a gathering.

Brother number two need not question God on his predicament. God never makes mistake; all He has created is good.

When situations look tough, it is simply because we are being taken through God’s fire of refinement. That foundation that assisted brother number two was God’s way of placing a powerful light at the end of this family’s tunnel. This man is now in a position to initiate projects for his hopeless sister in the slum and influence sister number two’s rehabilitation.

Let us not be fooled: Some families may seem good, but there will always be issues on the inside. Learn to appreciate where God chose to place you, and never lose hope. He never makes mistakes.