Meet Abene

Meet Abene. When I first met this young man on the streets of Hawassa he was feisty and bright eyed. He always jumped at the opportunity to play ball with the boys.

But after just a couple weeks he started to sit out. Finally I would show up in the mornings and he would still be sleeping out on the grass on the meadow we played.

Of all the boys he was the only one who had shoes (albeit old and worn). He wore them while he slept and covered his head with whatever he could find.
One day the ball got kicked into him while he slept and it woke him. He began crying- I thought because he got hit, but after some investigating realized he had been robbed in his sleep. He awoke to realize all his money (15 Bir, about $1.50) had been stolen from him and he was left again with nothing.

This went on for many weeks on end. He never seemed to get up.

Eventually he also had no shoes.

After quite a few weeks there was a morning when the nearby "road" was getting grated and ready for stone to be laid. The huge machine barely fit in the road. There were, lined along the side of the meadow and road downed poles- very large like utility poles- and as the grater moved along it pushed the poles out of the way.

Amazingly Abene slept right though the loud roar of the machine. Then out of no where it seemed, as the grater pushed a utility pole, it went right at the sleeping boy.



There is Abene sleeping in his shoes

As it approached his feet I ran towards the driver shouting so stop and waving my arms. The man couldn't hear me. The other bystanders from the community tried, half heart idly- to shout at Abene to wake him. As every attempt failed I watched as the pole miraculously lifted up off the ground about a centimeter above his feet then glide up over his legs, body then past his head- all the way JUST HOVERING above his body- then SLAM about half an inch past his head.

I ran over and lifted him up off the ground with some help and drug him further away. The neighbors were angry that he were sleeping there- I was confused that he could sleep through all the commotion. I told them all it was only by the hand of God that he was still alive!

He went right back to sleep.

One day I saw another boy try to get him up, gave him some water, and had to hake him around a bit. They were trying to take care of him.

Finally I stepped in. I don't know why, but of all the boys he really made an impression on me. He was so hopeless in his state.

I grabbed him by the collar one day as he slept and pulled him up; shook him around a bit, and shouted at him.

"Abene, Abene. Get up!"
"What do you want? Do you want to play football? Do you want a uniform? Do you want work, a home? What do you want? GET UP!"

I told him I expected him to get up and play with us from then on.

To my amazement- he got up, washed up, and watched the game. The next day- and from that day on he happily participated and worked. I had not seen him asleep again when I arrived.



Legessa with Abene in a recent photo

 

Several weeks later he got his uniform, and some weeks after that he was among the first 3 boys to get a home rented. (He did however decide he preferred to live on the street, but continues to participate in the Club eagerly).

Meet Abene: I never figured out what made him feel so hopeless, but I know that playing football and being a member of Club Anbesa gives him hope.