My Family

Let me tell you about my family.  I have tons of siblings.  There is one father for all of us.  I know he must be famous because he's had lots of books written about him.  In fact, the best seller of all times is about him.  Some of my brothers, who claim to know him best, say that he is very loving to all his children, at least that's what some of us have been taught to understand.  But, let me tell you about some of my family members.

Akira used to live near Sendai, Japan.  In March, 2011, a gigantic earthquake hit the area, causing a horrible tsunami.  The small factory, that Akira and his family owned, was completely erased.  His home was flattened.  Akira lost several family members and more than a few friends.  He wasn't even able to recover the family Bible, a treasure of several generations.  Luckily, Japan is an advanced country, so Akira's life, although greatly changed, will go on.  When I heard the news of my brother's bad luck, I did send him some money and paid for a few of my other brothers to go help with the massive cleanup.

Abu exists (you can't really call it living) in a refuge camp in the Darfur region of Sudan.  He doesn't understand the war that rages around him.  All he knows is that he and his family are never safe.  He heard that his mother had been raped and killed in another camp.  His nephew died of starvation,in his mother's arms, before he was ever able to celebrate his first birthday.  Although Abu mourns, he feels that his nephew might have actually been lucky since there would never have been a life, of any kind, for him.  I sent Abu word that I was shipping some rice and beans for them to eat, some tenting for shelter, and maybe even some medicine.  I let him know that I wouldn't be coming to help myself since it was much to dangerous for me.  I did promise to send him the book about his father, in his own language, so he could read about how much his father loves him.

My sister, Celeste, lives outside of Port au Prince, Haiti.  Since the earthquake two years ago, she and her family have shared a one-room house, made of tin and cardboard, with another family.  There is no kitchen, no bathroom, no running water, no work, no school, not much food nor medical help.  Although they have lived like this for two years, they really can't see a change for the better anywhere in the future.  A Catholic priest sometimes makes the 20 mile trip from the city to hold mass, a celebration of our father's love, but Celeste says that not many people in the camp attend any longer.  I did go down there for a week, all the time I could spend, to help with moving those people with nowhere to live into camps.  I was glad to do it, but I had to get back to my own family, home, and job.  Sometimes I take a moment or two to wonder about how Celeste is doing.

The last time I spoke to Akira, Abu, and Celeste, I reminded them how very much our father loves all his children.  Somehow, I don't think they were paying much attention to me.  I guess that they had other things on their minds.  I promised them that, some day, all of our father's children would have a big reunion.  I got the feeling that they probably weren't too interested in attending.