Broken Family

Aug 31, 2010 by Paula

We learned a sad news today.  One of Z’s playmates was sent back to his grandmother to live there and to be raised by her grandma.  It’s so sad because two years ago this small child was still living a happy life with his Mom and Dad.  I have witnessed how happy they were as a family.  They don’t have all the material things anyone can wish for but they were complete.

Every afternoon the mother would take her child to the playground while waiting for his Dad to come home from school.  The Dad was still studying and they were being supported by their mother who was working abroad but things were alright because in a year he would graduate and would be able to support his small family.

Well, that time came and he was able to graduate, he got an entry level job, and things were certainly looking up for them.  Unfortunately, his mother who was working abroad got into a financial trouble so his salary went to his brother’s needs.  His wife was getting concerned because their three year old boy was not going to school so she decided to pack her bags and go back to her grandmother in the province who can finance her son’s education.  They parted amicably because it was decided she will be gone for only a year to give her husband some respite from his financial burden and also for his three-year old to have a headstart at school.  Since we were friends with them we gave her some advice to just delay her son’s education and just stay put with her husband.  They were able to survive when her husband was still studying, surely they would survive now that he has graduated and already got a job.  Unfortunately, she didn’t listen and went to the province.

A year passed and she and her son came back.  Z was delighted to have his friend and playmate back.  We thought everything was alright but then we learned that the husband was already seeing someone else.  I advised her to sacrifice so their family would not be torn apart but unfortunately, it was already too late.  Even though they were there the husband was not interested anymore with his child and with her.  He has already found a wealthy girl and was living a different life from what they had before.  He didn’t want to give up his new found freedom.

The mom had nowhere else to go.  She can’t go back to her grandma in the province because not everything was fine there so she had to work here.  While she was working her son was left alone at their apartment with his husband’s brothers.  For a time, we didn’t hear any news about them because we also moved away.  Until my husband told me she saw the mom in his office.  It turned out she applied there for a job and got in.  He said it seems she already has a boyfriend and it was a guy he met in their office.

Now came the news that the mom is already sending her son to the province.  She can’t take care of her child anymore because she is also working during the day and she can’t afford to pay a nanny for her son with her income.  She had left the apartment she shared with her husband and his brothers and is now staying at her friend’s house.

This is really a sad story and it happened in just two years.  My hubby was angry when he learned about this and told me we should just have adopted Z’s little friend but we know we can only do so much.  I just hope their setup is just temporary and soon she will able to get her child from her grandma.  The poor boy just lost his Dad and now he has lost his Mom and to think a year ago he and his mother was inseparable.  He would play with Z for a few minutes and then go out to look for his mom and now this happened.  Poor little boy.

I know how he feels like because I was like him too when I was growing up.  It is my fervent wish that our little one doesn’t have to go through this too in the future.