Aslan Newsletter of April 7, 2000

Dear friends:

Several weeks ago we had quite an incident in Long Branch with Aaron* and Tamara*, a brother and sister pair in our Right Choices classes. Aaron is a very bright 13-year old with a meek personality and a slight build. Tamara is 16-years old, in high school, no nonsense and tough as nails. She’s not someone you want to mess with or meet in a dark alleyway. She is also the self-appointed defender of her brother. She and Aaron normally seem to get along well, but this particular Wednesday something went dreadfully wrong. Out of the blue, Tamara and Aaron were at each other’s throats – cursing, screaming and fighting! They took their fight outside, but things only worsened there as a crowd of kids gathered round to watch and egg them on. Lynn Ann coaxed them back inside – the air blue with cursing and shouting - separated them and got them into a room where they could talk. They reluctantly agreed not to fight anymore while they were with her.

Aaron was crying uncontrollably at this point. From the enormous depth of need in his life, he began to open up and pour out the pain in his heart. Every day after school he is beaten up by the same group of kids. If Tamara is anywhere near, she makes sure that serious retribution is taken on anyone who touches her brother. With tears splashing to the floor, Aaron said, "Tamara, I don’t want you fighting my battles for me! I’d rather be beaten bloody every day than to hear the other boys tease me because my sister has to do my fighting for me." Aaron’s heart was breaking with every word. The thing that hurt the most was to hear him repeat over and over, "It would be so much better if I was dead."

As with most of our kids, Aaron has no father or father figure in his home. His mother has serious problems, he is extremely poor and lives in the public housing projects where negatives abound everywhere. Since this incident, we’ve been spending a lot of extra time with Aaron. Aslan staffer Joe Parrillo, in particular, is spending quality one-on-one time with Aaron each week. With a double masters in social work and cross cultural studies along with extensive experience in counseling, Joe is a wonderful new resource for our Aslan children. Aaron has even expressed a genuine interest in going to Haiti with Aslan in July. We pray he will one day see how valuable his life is – to us and to God!

Thank you for being a part of these kids’ lives through your prayers and your gifts. We so need your faithful and continued help! With God’s love, Aaron, Tamara and many children like them will find hope, encouragement and the possibility for lasting change.

Most sincerely!

Craig Bogard