A story about Mr Atanase.

It was on a 3^rd of march 2012, when a  breathtaking scenario happened while I was around the “1000 cups and coffee restaurant” in Gisement, Kigali, when this gentleman captured my attention. He was one legged, and the most interesting part was that he was very jovial,cheerful  and energetic with the way he was interacting with the people around him. Because of this it made me want to know him. He had a small space  around a building of where he carries out  his job of polishing shoes. A very down to earth person Atanase Gave me a warm smile as I approached him. I managed to talk to him though communicating  with him was somehow  hard because of the Language barrier(since he only speaks Kinyarwanda  of which i don’t) but luckily i managed to get a translator to help me out.He had some amazing thoughts and story.. This is his story>> I hope at the end of this short trailer you will get to learn something  on never to give up in life and to always be grateful with what you have or possess because you don’t know when that thing  you once had  would be snatched away.

Mr Atanase .

About a man of age 37yrs old who never Lost hope even after losing everything he once had and treasured”Family and friends” and part of his body part his leg was amputated during the genocide that had happened in Rwanda 1994.

Today, He is still living and surviving despite all the  sufferings and challenges he underwent and still facing, he has great faith in God and is very hopeful and grateful to him.

He later continues and says that God  gave him strength to move on and strength to love and appreciate life. He now has a family of four children (3girls and 1boy)the first born being 8years old and the last one being 3yrs old.His wife and children are always on his side as he was explaining to me.They live in the outskirts of Rwanda, He usually goes and visits them once in a month or sometimes in two months it all depends on the little money he gets from his work.

In Life, We all have to move forward even if life tries to takes you down.

Being happy doesn’t mean you’re perfect. It just means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.

His Clients have become  his close friends.

This is his Motto in Life.

“Kazi ni Kazi” A kiswahili wise saying.

“Kazi ni Kazi” which is a Kiswahili phrase meaning  work Is work .Therefore,  One has to put effort in whatever you do.He was explaining how life was so hard for him such that he could not afford anything even his medical treatments and hence he decided to start a small part time job so as to feed and sustain for his family.

“Poverty is not anyone’s wish” be Grateful with what you have.

He confesses and tells me that  though its so hard for him  due to his condition he doesn’t want to rely on anyone else as compared to many street beggars who were blessed with both Legs and hands but opt for begging.

He strongly wants to tell to the world that to always be grateful with God Has blessed you with, His Advice to the youth, to be self reliant and educate  yourself if its possible , for he believes Poverty can be eradicated with Education.As he was telling me this, I failed to understand why sometimes life can be unfair!! how such a  determined person like him is in such a situation and he is still positive about life.

Mr Atanase A great man with “hope and Faith”

Mr Atanase in action while at work.

Mr Atanase at work. A small income that he gets out of it would help him to at least meet some of the needs of his daily activities and his family needs. He later tells me on, that sometimes he doesn’t get any client hence that makes his life more difficult and very hard to move on.His family are surviving on the small plantation that they  have back at home in the village. His prayers and wish is if he could get a chance to get a better job and a better health condition so that he could be more stable despite all the sufferings.

As the more i get to know him the more he gets more open with me and later, he tells me about his children and his wife who he loves so much, at the time the first born is 8yrs old and the last one is 3yrs old.His hope and prayers are that his children would get a better education so that they could live a much better life than he did.

At the end of everything, i realized that a “strong hearted person” will always have an interesting story to tell.

Atanase’s clutches are made of metal and covered with clothing

Please share and like this link if you think it has a lesson and can bring hope to one’s life.

Thank you Lord for making me meet such a wonderful person like him. We are now good friends.