Desmond's Story

Birthing Water into Wine

Three months after I was born, my dad got arrested and was released some months later. He then decided to travel to Amsterdam after his release. After some years, my mum also travelled to the UK, leaving my brother and I with her friend. After both parents travelled, was when we started experiencing life without our parents.  We started moving from house to house. We relocated more than five times. It got to a point I had to walk to school meaning I had to wake up very early in the morning and do my house chores and set off early because I had no money for transportation. I have gone through a whole lot, through maltreatment and suffering. I wasn’t allowed to go out, I was always at home. I remember one day, I mistakenly did something wrong and the woman I was living with began to rain insults on me; insulting my parents and a whole lot. That day it felt as if my parents were dead, but they were alive. Some situations in life can make you think you are an orphan, but you are not.

One day I was at home when someone knocked on the door and I ran quickly to the door. When I opened, guess who? It was my dad. I remember jumping on him with a big smile and he asked me if I knew him and I said, “YES OF COURSE”. He asked me that because I was two years old when he travelled to Amsterdam. That day was an exciting day in my life, and he promised me he will come and take me to Amsterdam.

My mum used to come to Ghana once in a while and go back. I remember one evening my brother told me that we were going to visit a friend of my mum not knowing we were going to the airport to pick up my mum after so many years of living in the UK. It’s a day I will never forget in my life, I was so much excited. I have gone through so many things in life that I cannot write down. There were times in my life that I would cry going to bed and wake up with tears in my eyes, but I never gave up. It is the word of God that kept me.

A long story being cut short, my dad came for me and I am living a whole different life now, a better life in Amsterdam.

All that I want to say is that there is no sparkling golden ring that has not passed through fire. Better the end of a matter than the beginning. Whatever you are going through now is preparing you for the future. And keep in mind that life is in phases. Whatever you are looking for in life, someone has it in abundance but what you don’t know is that the person was once looking for it like you. There is no ENOUGH so keep PUSHING.