Estifanos’s story

Estifanos (14 years old) comes from Dilla. His parents divorced when he was a young child. The boy does not know his mother’s whereabouts and has lost all  contact with her. His father remarried after some time and did not want to raise him. A single woman took Estifanos in, but she had serious trouble dealing with him. Estifanos went to school, but he did not want to study and caused disciplinary issues. Eventually he dropped out of school in the fourth grade and came to Awassa on his own. 

First he sought help in the Church, as he knew a bishop who had previously been the parish priest in Dilli. Unfortunately, the bishop’s efforts to send Estifanos to various organizations were unsuccessful. As Estifanos himself admits, he has trouble adhering to rules. 

Estifanos seems to be quite an individualist. He does not cause any trouble at our center and he takes part in activities, but he does not usually play with other children. He likes to read books, especially biographies of Saints.

He says that he would love to go back to school and that he would like to become an Ortodox priest in the future. He is taking a course to become a deacon now. He is also a grade 4 student. We hope that by remaining on good terms with him, we will be able to help.