Former Street Child Becomes Proprietor and Helps Homeless People
Kalid Mahamed, 17, lives with his parents in Hirna town, west Hararghee zone, Oromia Regional State. He was born to a poor family. His parents struggled to make ends meet for their large family. Unfortunately, the couple divorced when Kalid was just five. When his mother remarried, his paternal grandmother took custody of him. He found it hard to adjust himself to the new way of life but he withstood it anyway. He always hoped that one day his mother would take care of him but she did not.
His ailing grandmother was unable to feed him or provide him with the care he used to enjoy. In his new life journey, he went through a point where his caretaker could not celebrate his birthdays, holidays or other family occasions. It took him a while to adjust himself to the new social milieu. The grandmother struggled to make ends meet to feed her grandchild and help him resume high school education that he later quit when he was in the 10th grade. Unfortunately, before fulfilling her dream, his grandma passed away.
‘‘I was totally broken down and bewildered,’’ Kalid remembers. ‘‘I was short of words and did not know what my future would be like.’’ He spent several months going from one home to another feeling like a burden. The darker side of humanity made him feel that he was a social misfit. He shaded tears of sorrow and his uncertain future and could not feel asleep. Without a second thought, he left the temporary homes and ended up on the street. He spent nights sleeping in Hirna town and elsewhere.
During the day, he worked menial jobs to feed himself. He found life on the street unbearable as it was bringing him gloomy forecasts. ‘‘It was a shattering experience,’’ he recalls. One night, a hyena dragged one of his feet and he became hysterical and cried out for help. He stood up and alerted a young fellow sleeping beside him about the incident. He frantically left the area. ‘‘That was one of the most dangerous nights I ever encountered such coincidence and will never forget it," he explains.
One good morning, Kalid and fellow youth were walking through a village when he heard an inspiring song. Stirred by both the music and lyrics, he asked his companions to go into a church known as Full Gospel Evangelical Church. They left after the service ended with different experiences and feelings. One week later, Kalid felt the need to go back to the same church and attend the sermon. After the church service, Kalid met the Church Pastor and told him about his life story. The Pastor heard him out and was sympathetic towards him. Soon, he shared Kalid’s story with the church leaders, who unanimously decided to give him shelter in the church compound. After sleeping on the street for five months, Kalid had a sleeping room. ‘‘I found the church’s charity incredible,’’ Kalid says.
The church also provided him with all the necessary support he needed every day. The church Pastor had a better understanding of World Vision’s commitment to supporting vulnerable children so he decided to contact the area programme in the district and shared the story with them. No sooner had they heard the story, the staff responded through the provision of food and clothes. World Vision in partnership with the church enrolled Kalid in a high school and provided him with school supplies. 
So as not to become dependent, he became a shoeshine boy outside his school time. World Vision kept monitoring his day-to-day activities and encouraged him to work hard in his education. Based on the close follow-up, attachment built and support, the community dubbed Kalid, the World Vision Boy. After such acceptance and manifestation of good manners, he became a member of a Children’s Parliament in his school. World Vision and organisations that work to ensure Child Rights offered him capacity-building training. Kalid became a visionary when he began to mobilise town residents to support street children and people in need. Soon, along with his friends, he formed a Volunteer Association that will build shelters for homeless people. Prior to building new shelters, he maintained five dilapidated old houses for vulnerable community members. In the meantime, he provided 52 students with school supplies. During religious holidays, he mobilised the community more than six times to feed street children.
Having seen Kalid’s good deeds, the local government gave him an office for the association and legalised his volunteering work. Kalid is grateful for World Vision and the church. "If it weren’t for the partnership of the church and World Vision, I would have remained on the street. GOD has used them to lift me out of the abject poverty," Kalid says. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation of development, dedicated to working with children, their families and their communities to reduce poverty and injustice. Kalid is a living witness to testify this fact.
By Workineh Muleta, Communications Coordinator, World Vision Ethiopia