Eric and Alex

Eric's brother Alex and his wooden plaque

Eric and his fingerpainted fish

Eric and his fingerpainted butterfly

Eric and his watercolor painting

I wrote Eric a letter before I went to the Village of Hope, and I brought him the letter when I met him. He was such an amazing young boy. I had him in my seventh grade art class. We did watercolor paintings and fingerpaintings. He was quite the artist. During the week he asked me if I could draw him so he gave me a beautiful picture of himself as well as a picture of a butterfly to draw. I plan on drawing the pictures and sending them to him. He was such a joy to have in my class, and I enjoyed sending time with him. I learned that he is one of five boys. His parents died, and so he was forced to live on the streets for three years. His oldest brother who is now in school at a university tried hard to keep the five brothers together. During the day they would try and sell what they could while at night they would sleep on the streets. As you can imagine this was extremely hard for the boys, but they managed to stay together until finally a Christian family found them living on the streets. They ended up at the Village of Hope orphanage. Eric is so full of joy and love, and you would never be able to tell that he had to endure such hardship. He was such a blessing!