Beryl Amurugat Favour

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 BERYL AMURUGAT FAVOUR
 is a student from Nairobi, Kenya. Her heartbreaking and at the same
 time uplifting story is an inspiration and testament to the power of
 kindness. This story won Beryl second prize for school students in the
 Heartfulness International Essay Competition 2021.
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 Looking down on a blank page is like staring at an empty plate after
 sleeping hungry for almost three days. I have always had an ambition of
 being a writer and sitting here right now gives me a feeling of a dream
 come true. But all of this would just be a dream if it was not for the
 kindness of one great woman who was brought to my life by my constant
 cries and prayers. When people hear of kindness, the first thing that
 comes to their mind is a life-changing experience. And I would not have
 believed all this if life had not shown me that the voice of an African
 child can be heard.
 

 
 I was born in a village in the outskirts of Kenya near the great Lake
 Victoria. My mom was a housewife while my dad worked in a tobacco
 factory. He was a drunk and very abusive. My three siblings and I never
 experienced real happiness, and from day one I was always reminded that
 as a girl I had no chances of succeeding. I had an interest in writing
 from the age of ten but I had no hope of my dreams ever coming true.
 

 
 My world finally crumbled when I was fifteen, a teenager who had just
 finished primary education. My siblings and I woke up to a broken
 family. My mom, tired of all the mistreatment, had killed our father. I
 don’t know why, but I remember not even crying. My mom was arrested. The
 law said it had everything under control, but what did they even mean by
 that? Where were they when my mom’s screams were being heard? Where were
 they when he kept on lashing her?
 

 
 Seeing my mom going was the start of a life not explainable by words. My
 siblings and I were taken to different orphanages. I landed up in an
 orphanage known as the “Home of the Motherless.” It was owned by the
 government and was full to the brim. We shared everything, and we even
 lacked space to sleep. I was not able to see my siblings and no one told
 me about my mother. I spent days crying myself to sleep, and apparently
 that is the only way you can sleep on an empty stomach. Days turned to
 weeks and months, and I finally lost all hope of seeing my mother or
 siblings. Even the hope of finishing school and becoming a writer was
 lost.
 

 
 One fateful day, a few people came to view the orphanage. They were
 donors who were sent by a group to help the children in the orphanage.
 There was one woman who told us here name, she looked kind, and I liked
 her from the word go. Looking into her eyes, I could see my restored
 happiness. She walked toward me and asked for my age and name. I
 politely answered her, she asked for my story, and I told her.
 

 
 She was touched, and there and then she told me how I looked like her
 daughter who had passed away. She asked about school and my dreams, and
 I told her everything. She offered to help me, and since then I have
 never experienced lack. I have realized the true meaning of having a
 guardian angel. Thanks to her I am able to go to school and achieve my
 dreams. She helped me start afresh from a situation that most people are
 not able to recover from, domestic violence. I am able to visit my mom
 in jail, see my siblings, and even have the heart to forgive my father.
 I want to be able to help an African child one day and be a successful
 writer, and I believe with every kind heart comes a dream that can be
 fulfilled. Right there is the voice of an African child.
 

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