''Solo quiero amar a mi hermano''

That means ''I only want to love my brother.'' That's what one of the boys named Rene wrote on his picture above drawings of himself and his brother when he was asked to draw something that represented his future. Rene was the first boy (young man) we met here. He wants to go to school but keeps getting pulled back into his addiction to alcohol. Monday I saw him and he was looking at a paper with math problems on it (a page for kids out of the newspaper). He was sober, waiting for work-- men to come who needed their shoes shined-- in parque central. So for about 15 minutes, I helped him and Javier with math. He's sharp, I thought, if he could stay clean, I think he could actually learn a lot and have a lot of possibilities.

Then last night, I almost cried when I saw him-- all disheveled, definitely not sober . . . then he started drawing that picture and wrote that line-- in his future all he wants to do is love his brother-- wow. He said his brother is in the states-- hasn't seen him in 3 years . . .

Then today, we found out that for some reason that still isn't clear to me, he might be put in prison for 3 months-- something about him drinking last night (would have been after the art time I'm guessing) and being accused of taking someone else's papers-- don't know-- he and Valerio were together-- so both of them might be taken to prison-- won't find out till tomorrow I guess-- we'll see if we see them or not, and what other kids tell us. Sigh. Damn addictions. Taking away their lives, their futures, their hope. Rene looked so scared when we saw him today-- when he told us about possibly going to prison-- seemed as if he was a little kid-- think he's really around 20. Sigh. I know there is hope. I know God has hope, so I won't despair, but I am sad. Very sad. A young man, who is really a boy inside, who was rejected by his own father (wrote about that in a previous post), who just wants to go to school and love his brother, but who is trapped by his addiction. Sigh. Praying for God's power in his life. Even if I don't get to see his redemption, I hope and pray it happens . . . I have hope in the Lord-- the only place I can find to hope-- in Him who works miracles, brings freedom . . . HOPE for Rene, God, please . . .