Moe was one of the first children to come to Emmanuel Center. He had run to the streets when he was 11, after his father remarried a lady who constantly beat him. On the streets he sniffed glue, stole small items and fought with the other boys. But he could remember a better life, when his mother was alive and there was a bit of food to eat.
So when he heard that a former street boy was now helping others with food, school and work, he decided to check it out. He found Daniel, the founder of Emmanuel Center, at a small house with a big pot of rice and beans. Daniel gave Moe a plate and began to ask him about life on the streets. He told him to come back again. When Moe returned he saw that Daniel's little house was filthy, as a dozen street boys had slept there the night before. Moe cleaned up and Daniel gave him lunch again. The next day was the same.
One day Daniel said that he was moving the center to a big building where 40 children could live. He said he needed some big boys to help clean and care for the smaller ones so Moe moved in.
For four years, he got up every morning, and after the other children had gone to school (Moe had never gone to school and was too old to start) he washed the floors, made the beds and worked in the vegetable garden.
One day Daniel called him into the office and asked if he would like to learn a trade. Moe said he would like to be a carpenter. The next week he heard they had found a school to teach him carpentry, and it even had boarding so he could live there. Moe was terrified. Emmanuel Center was the only safe home he had known for years and he feared leaving. Daniel explained that if he went to board at the training center then another street kid could have his bunk bed at Emmanuel Center. So Moe carefully packed his few possessions. He was scared the other students, many of whom had gone to school, would be smarter than him and tease him. He was scared he would be beaten, or that he would fail and disappoint the kind people who were paying for his course.
It was not easy for Moe to complete his first year at the training center. He could not grasp the theory as fast as the other students. He read very slowly and had never used a calculator before. But after a year he had learned enough to start an apprenticeship at a carpentry workshop. He is now enrolled in a second year of training, at the end of which he will write a final test and earn his certification. His hard work is slowly, but surely, paying off.
