Goodenough Story Part 3 Simeon and Zion's story

Once upon a time two children lived in Liberia, Africa. It was beautiful there. They could see huge Banana trees that people would cut down to harvest. Papayas, pineapples, coconuts, mangoes,even sugar cane grew there. They could walk out their back door and climb barefoot up a palm tree using a harness and rope. They picked the sweet palm nuts and ate them like apples. They would pick bunches of them for one of the ladies in their village who would cook them and smash them to make red palm oil and palm butter. Among all this beauty there was also sorrow. People were starving to death. Children wandered the streets unprotected and became victims of violent crime. Many children were caught and killed so their assailant could sell their body parts for money. Because of cultural beliefs and superstitions, children were treated brutally by those they should have been able to trust. The two children in our story lived there with their mother and father. Then war came again to Liberia. Their father went away was shot down. Things were worse now. The children along with most of the people from their village had fled when the invading armies came through. Any one left was killed. The houses and buildings were smashed, the crops were burned. After several months the people started coming back to the village. They rebuilt their tiny houses as best they could but there was no money for building supplies or re-planting. Many people died because of lack of food, nutrition and shelter. They would not eat more than something small once a day, some days they didn't eat at all. Then six years later, their mama gave birth to a baby who she named Miracle. They were happy to have a little brother to love. But, Only 2 months after Miracle was born their mama was killed. Now the brothers were orphans. The people of the village helped all they could but, they too were losing family members to the war and the deprivation that followed. Their Auntie said that she would try to care for Miracle but, that was all she could do. The children would have to leave the village. Where would they go? Who would care for them? They had no hope of ever being someones child again, no hope of having a family of their own. Then, when all hope was gone they found out that there was a family that wanted to adopt them. They would care for and love them. Did they want that? "Oh, yes, more than anything!!" They were taken to the Pastors house to wait for the government to let them go. The government was re-writing laws and recovering from many years of civil war. It was a very slow process. Three years passed. The government finally allowed the children to leave Liberia. Their new papa was coming to get them and take them home. Their new mama and siblings were there to meet them when they got off the plane. Everyone seemed to love and accept them already. But, it wasn't easy. Everything that they saw and heard was new. They cried and slept a lot, they fought (sometimes with their fists) and everyone was confused. They couldn't even speak the same language. The new children taught the family many things. like how to build structures like they did in Liberia and how to open a coconut. Then after many months the whole family learned to get along together, like each other and even love each other. They had finally become the family that they always hoped they would be.