Boy shot trying to feed his brothers and sisters

Boy shot trying to feed his brothers and sisters and I am to blame I am reprinting this from Spotlight on Orphans Extra.

Mr. Richard was a church elder in a local Seventh-day Adventist Church. He and his wife were blessed with seven children. He contracted the AIDS virus
through a blood transfusion way back in 1996. Then he unknowingly infected his
wife. They both died in March, just around the time Esther, Vicki and Steve visited us here in Africa. Mr. Richard left behind seven children.
The local church tried to support the family but due to abject poverty in Africa they could not continue with the support. The firstborn boy, aged sixteen, came to
me and narrated his story. He wanted us to accept even two of his siblings into the Centre. At the age of sixteen he had become the sole breadwinner for his six siblings. It was too much for him. Unfortunately, we could not accept them into Hope for Children Center orphanage because of our financial capabilities.
Sadly enough, I read in one of the local newspapers just last month that the boy was shot dead by police officers in an exchange of fire during a bank robbery in Nairobi. I went to their home to confirm what I had read, thinking that the names could be similar. I met his thirteen-year-old sister who is his follower. She told me that her brother resorted to robbery in order to feed them. In fact, he was lured into it and that was his first attempt.
The boy is already buried and so in the family, the girl is now the sole breadwinner. We visited them last week while on missionary outreach with our orphans and took for them some little food. This is what she told us, which is just painful to me, “Pastor, I am very tired and hopeless, I have nowhere I can get food for our children. The future is completely dark for me. My siblings will soon die of starvation. The only option I have is to look for somebody who can marry me if he is promising to care for my siblings. It has to be soon, or else they’ll all die.”

Sixteen year old boy shot trying to feed his bothers and sisters. Now his sister will have to sell herself to feed them if no one will help. I feel responsible for this boys death because I have not done more. It only costs $30 a month to sponsor an orphan. Why didn’t I cover the $210 a month until sponsors could be found for these orphans.

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