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My Life is a Mess
by Kevin Chiu, Chief Executive Officer of World Vision Hong Kong

"My life is a mess!" the young mother confessed in a small voice. I was speechless...

We were in Vietnam, in a mountainous area three hours from Hanoi, the capital. World Vision has been serving there for over 10 years and over 2,000 children are supported by Hong Kong sponsors. Many community works were beginning to bear fruits – children are going to schools, children and youth clubs have started, vocational training are provided to mothers and young adults... Things are going as well as one could wish.

Our Vietnamese colleagues took us to visit families.

"This is a vulnerable family – a single mother with two girls, one 13 and one 7. The husband has left."

They have a small house, built with World Vision’s assistance. As a beneficiary of a World Vision livelihood initiative, the mother also received two cows from the community support group. The 13-year-old girl shared with us what she liked to do in school and she enjoyed participating in the youth group. She also told us that unlike other sponsored children she knew, she seldom received letters or cards from her sponsor. Her hobby was reading and writing diary and poetry.

"Could you show us your diary and share with us some of your poems?" I asked.

Her eyes brightened up and promptly took out her diary. She shared with us a poem she wrote recently. She recited it in Vietnamese, while our colleague translated it, tentatively, on the spot. Everybody in the very small room was quiet. I began to notice some tears on some faces. It was a poem about the pain of being fatherless – the girl's heart cries!

White clouds floating in the sky, uncertain where to go...

I keep going, without a destination ahead...

Bitter about living without a father by my side...

When I came into this life, I was fatherless...

Pretending confident just to conceal my weakness...

I cried over my mom and her hopeless plight
I cried over myself, belittled and disgraced
I cried over a family that only exists in my dreams...

All my life I've wished I could cry out the word 'daddy'...

The words from the diary of a 13-year-old girl left our Vietnamese colleagues in tears. Her father left the family before she could recognize him.

I looked at the girl and the mother and was unable to offer any words of support or empathy... "Could I pray for you?" I asked. They nodded their heads.

After we fed the cows and were about to leave, I shook hands with the mother and told her "You are a strong mother!"

"My life is a mess!" she said sheepishly. I was stunned by her confession.

"God can help us clean up our mess," I told her, and myself.

She smiled with a trace of hope on her face.

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