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Ghana Update- Brother Joshua's Starry Starry Night [1]

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Date: 2023-03-07

John in Ghana comes from a large family. He almost never talks about them and I have chatted with only two of them online. Their father is somewhat harsh. His attitude is, “No one helped me so I will help no one.” So they are mostly on their own.

Joshua is John’s younger brother. He wants to be an artist. When I first knew John he sent me some images of Joshua’s watercolors. I am by no means an expert but I thought they showed some promise. He had done a painting of ocean waves that oddly reminded me of van Gogh’s Starry Night in its attempt to portray vitality and movement and life. Hence the title of this story. Also Joshua is so Vincent….

At that time things were different. Through John, Joshua asked me to provide him with books on art techniques and art. To my shame, I admit I did not (lack of money is always an issue, even back then.) I love anyone who asks for books!

Well, that was well over ten years ago and much has happened. In the meantime I almost starved, John almost starved. Life became a mere struggle for survival. But I never totally lost track of Joshua, through John, and he has always had a spot in my heart. Goodness knows there are many out there with artistic talent and the artist’s fire to create but with no means to express it. One of the great sadnesses of this world is how few have ever had the opportunity to use their talents that would enrich all of humanity.

In the meantime life has not been kind to Joshua. A religious school offered to help him get an education but they deceived him in some way and he was forced to leave. He has been in prison. His father put him in a mental institution that honestly sounded like something from One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest. (I did manage to save him from that one, thank God!) For awhile he tried to be a rap artist but that sort of thing is impossible for a poor man in the camps of Ghana. As is almost anything else that speaks of art, talent, and creativity.

Joshua is currently homeless. He is sleeping on the streets. What little money he can scrounge is from picking through the garbage heaps for scrap to sell. Last month he almost went under. He really did. We managed to get twenty dollars to him so that he could at least eat. But it is difficult.

Of course Joshua is not a helpless little kid, nor is he a pregnant woman in danger of dying in childbirth. Inevitably we must care for the children and the chronically ill first. Even Joshua realizes this.

This month we are going to try to get him into a house and hopefully Ibrahim the homeless orphan can stay with him. We may not make it but at least he will not starve.

Vincent needs his beloved Theo to care for him.

[END]
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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/7/2156728/-Ghana-Update-Brother-Joshua-s-Starry-Starry-Night

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