Child Bobo

“Some days are all about anger management. Not mine, but in this case, a young a child we’ll call “Child Bobo”. You see, many of these children, including Child Bobo, where found roaming the streets their local townships with none to take care for them. They have anger issues and don’t know what to do with their feelings.
On this particular day, Child Bobo was upset and began to swing on another child. “No, no”, I quickly explained grabbing his hand. We went outside and walked together to cool off a bit and talk.
These children are so complex. Child Bobo’s eyes were so innocent, yes he boiling over with intense emotions. I explained to him that when you lose your temper and strike someone, there is no winner. He said to me, “Uncle Sydney, I like to win.” To which I replied, “ you are a winner Child Bobo, but when you do things of that nature and you hurt another person, you hurt yourself too.”
“I understand Uncle Sydney,” he said shaking his head.
“So, do we hit people?” I asked just to make sure he really got it. “No”, he quickly answered back. I felt satisfied. But, not nearly as satisfied as I would feel later in the day.
During lunch, Child Bobo’s past would haunt him. The children were served soup and sausage. He would eat the soup, but I noticed he would cut up the sausage and it would disappear. Turns out he would shove it in his pocket in case he went starving again and had to scavenge for food. I told him he could go ahead and eat the sausage and there would be more if he wanted it later. He simple said, “okay”, unwrapped it and ate it.
Later in the day, Child Bobo and I sat down to study our ABC’s, basic math and even a bit of multiplication. Answer after answer, Child Bobo got each one right.
He smiled as he looked up at me and said, “I am smart. I AM a winner!” All I could say was, “You are! You are an inspiration to so many.”