The Connecting Hands of the World

Characters:
Abebe - the main character, she is an orphan and has aids. 
Afework - the lady working at Kids R the Now who helps Abebe 
Daniachew and Ayana - the kids of Mrs.Afework 
Dr. Geteye - the doctor that diginos Abebe with aids.

Laura - American Sponsor Lady, Mother of Timmy and Sara 

Act 1 Scence 1


 (Abebe is walking through the villages.)


ABEBE

 

(stomach grumbling)

Walking through the small village that separated me from the only place near for me to get food, I saw a family. I walk this same path day after day, and see the same things, but something struck me odd on this day. They were the best thing I have ever seen since that day. They reminded me so much of the life I use to have, my happy and easier days. It was the life.


            We were really happy. My mom worked in the fields all day and I helped her as much as I could. She tended the small bit of wheat that our family needed to get by and I would sit and talk to her. When the season of picking came, I would help her, we worked all day. It was hot and long, but it didn’t matter it was funny being with my mother. 

            I would carry two baskets of picked wheat into the shed and pile it up, and then run back to the field and pick up the next basket. I helped my mother make the baskets. She taught me so one day I could make them for when I had my own field to tend. 

            Every night at dinner, even though we had small bits of food, we still ate and we always sat at the table together. We talked and my father was amazing. He always told us stories from the day and was the funniest man I knew. 

            I never went a day without a smile. I remember them days. As I neared the last half a mile to stand in line for lunch the memories faded. the small yet so powerful bits of activities have stuck with me. I really do miss them days...

(the memories started to fade as the walk near its end. sigh and frown face)

 

                                                         Act 1 Scene 2

(The roof drips water, “drip drip drip” Abebe puts a bucket under the drid, takes a deep breath and begins to look for her blanket.)

ABEBE


 The roof still has that hole that leaks. It is slowly getting bigger as the mud that makes the roof slowly slides down the sides. My house is falling apart, it is nothing like it use to be. Father use to fix it. He would make sure as soon as a problem stuck, he didn’t use fix it, he made it so much better. I am lucky i have a home, i guess, but what help does this home offer me? It doesn’t have warmth, love or shelter. Mother use to sew my blanket back together all the time, but now it has two holes that i can fit both my hands through at a time. Under that blanket I was covered in warm and her love for me, now i don’t know where it went, i guess it disappeared along with her when she got that horrible cold.  

I’m so cold 

(starts to shake, curls up in a ball and wraps the blanket around her, rocks back and forth) 


Why not just sleep and live outside? At this point I don’t see the difference. The roof is disappearing as the mud slides, the floor, well what floor exactly, there isn’t any, just the ground same thing as what lies outside the walls. And the walls, oh boy, well they have holes just like the ceiling does. Father use to fix that to, the mud and mortar can no longer hold up and the strall is weak. I can’t fix them I’m barely ten, but they keep getting bigger. They are like windows, but Father said we didn’t need any windows they only showed weakness. I have 15 windows. 

(Stands frowns, feeling of when a parent is disappointed in child.)

This house is so bad I feel like it may just crash down. Father would be mad. I’m sorry. 

(looks shy.)  

I think I’m moving out and

(grabs a couple special things and starts packing her stuff in a sheet) living outside, for my own good and safety. (ties up the sheet and walks out the biggest hole used as the door way.) Father would agree. 


Act 1 Scence 3


          (Lady from “Kids R the Now. “ the sponor program in Ethopia She is at the dinner table with her family, talking about the day of work like the daily routine of her family.

 

(Ms. Afework and her kids, Daniachew and Ayana are eating at the dinner table.)

             MS. AFEWORK


Work, it was alright (pause) well as good as it could be.

Why, why do you guys think. The kids I see and the stories I hear from them they are horrific. Not a single one one them today didn’t make me wanna cry. (pause) but I can’t. do you know how hard it is to not cry.

I know, I know, I’m late I just couldn’t leave I had to finish up something, I couldn’t just pause it for tomorrow, you can’t pause some one's life. 

I didn’t think so, when you need to cry you need to cry, but I’m the only person these people have. I should be strong for them, that way I can help them, and encourage them to think of a brighter future. Do you understand?

I didn’t think so, it’s hard to understand the feels that both they and I have. 

Well alright I’ll give you an example.

(as the mom explains it the actions of the girl will happen on the other side of the stage, and the monologues will switch back and forth)

(Abebe is lying on the ground leaning on a big rock, cuddled in a ball in a big open space. It is night-time)

 

Act 1 Scence 4

 

 

 ABEBE


uhh, its so cold,

(teeth chattering)

I would be fine if only i cold get to sleep. Tomorrow it would be different I would go to bed earlier and I will be stronger. Now just to get to sleep to night. (long pause)

What’s that noise?

(Abebe - wide eyed, still, but alert as footsteps in a near distance get closer and shadows begin to appear. Lights on that half of the stage fade out)

 

 

AHHH! Help!

(Screams continue until lights are all the way out, stage is pitch black. A big still man figure is leaning over her)


(switch to other side of the stage)

(Ms,Afework looking at her kids, still at the dinner table )

Act 1 Scence 5

 

 

                                    MS. AFEWORK


So today as i was walking I came upon this one girl, she was cold and lying on the ground. She was in a little ball, shaking. Her clothes were ripped, like the pair of pants I made you throw away last week, do you remember? 

                                     (say it slowly, and pause after each sentence)



You do, now think worse. The rips were so thick, so wide. She was naked. She was bruised and bleeding. Her face was wet with tears. 

I walked over to her because as part of Kid R the Now it’s my job to help kids that are walking and doing tasks by themselves. I went to check to see if she had parents, a family. She has nothing. She is by herself.



                                (looks at her children’s faces)

That’s what I thought, what if you were alone, what if I died. Now do you understand my moods. 

(kids head kind of nod) 

As a mother and having my own family, its natural to put myself in the position of her mother or think about if they was one of you guys. I wouldn’t be able to bare it. 


Had enough? Well the story isn’t over, not even to worst part either. She flinched at any type of movement towards her. She was scared of me, me of all people. She didn’t want me to touch her and when i tried to touch her and clean her up, she screamed. Screamed thing like “no, don’t touch me, stop. Please stop.”

Her mind had been messed with, she couldn’t tell the different between hurt and help. She had been destroyed from the kid inside to the outside layer of skin. Can you guess what has happen to her? Do you know what she bared the night before?  

                             (confused faces from the kids)

I can’t even tell you what all happened, but what I do know is she was raped, she an eleven year old girl. She had been pinned out, taken advantage of, and stripped of her childhood last night. Now after it, you know what she was left with, she is honored of having this random men’s aids. This is why I am upset, I was with her when she found out, i was next to her and I was her shoulder to cry on. I was her only shoulder.  

So no i couldn’t just leave. She is a very smart girl. Her parents died from aids, and now she knows she has it, and she knows what she is destine to. She is destine to a shorter life and is destine to die the same way her parents did.

Can you understand that? This is what my daily work life is. Be thankful and stop complaining about me being late. Eat your dinner.  

(family resumes dinner, kids head down staring at their plates.)

Act 1 Scence 6

 


ABEBE

 

            (the camera guy walks away. Abebe, Talking to herself while looking down at herself)


Thank you. Thank you so much. This family I don’t even know, that doesn’t live anywhere near me and that don’t have a plan to met me wants to help me. What are they getting out of providing for me? A picture that i so dread taking? There has to be more, wouldn’t you think? But they have really made my life into something. I can still remember that horrible house and that horrible night (chills run up her back, she flinches) I never thought it would be possible for me to be here. Here, I have friends and a new family of people that love and care for me. A strong support system and no holes possible to fall through and back into my old habits. I’m sitting here, warm. In clothes that fit and that are new and still have color, with a tummy that is full and with feet that aren’t killing me. Just weeks, days ago I was cold, sitting outside unaware and scared for tomorrow. I have medical treatment now to help me with my aids and schooling to give me the most of live. They are helping me live with my aids so I can live long and make a life with my education to help me get there. 

              (looks up and sees pictures of other families on the wall)

I miss being a family, a real family. A family with a mother and father, a family that was blood. There is a special bond there that only people that share blood have. I can’t explain it but it’s there. (looks up at the picture, and lightly touches it with her finger) In some way this sponsor lady in America makes me, makes me angry yet weak. Yes she is helping me, which is great but is she just proving me that I cannot do it myself? Can I not take care for myself, because of this family, I no longer have a chance to prove myself. I just don’t know. I feel like she is telling me that I am not good enough for my own self. 

Don’t get me wrong I am grateful, but when is enough, enough i feel even more helpless now then before.

            (she sits back down, folded legs and fake smiles for a picture) 

               (under her breath)

I just don’t know anymore..

Act 1 Scence 7


             LAURA 

             (looking at the picture of the Ethiopian girl)

She is beautiful,

             (yelling in the living room)

everyone, Hun, kids, guys?

             (back at the picture)

Look at her she is great. She looks like her smile is getting brighter. And her body looks healthy. I’m glad I can help her in some kind of way. Look at them, Timmy and Sara they are the best and I love them with all my heart, I mean I gave birth to them; they are my babies. They are what make my day, I get up in the morning for them and everything I do is based around them. What would their life be like if they lived here alone and raised themselves? If I had such a disease like her mother did. What if I had Aids, the thought of it is just so hard,

             (shivers)

 knowing my husband had it or cheated on me and got it, and I unwillingly and unaware was exposed to it. It’s heart breaking to think I could of been there and to think I could have past it to my children if it was before I was born. 

            The thought of it all just mind boggling, I don’t even allow them to be home alone for longer then 2 hours nor do I let them use the stove. My children wouldn’t be able to do it, they live such a sheltered life. She is brave and though I have never met her I can tell she is incredibly smart, even before the school that I have paid for her to attend. Her perseverance is phenomenal. At the age 12 she is already a greatly mature adult, more of an adult then I could ever be. 

            I wonder if she gets to play like a kid, my kids biggest concerns are there toys and chocolate milk, not how they will eat or if they will eat that night. Even with I, i think about the things I have to do for the following day or clean the house, instead she thinks about is she going to be able to find somewhere to sleep. Someone else’s misfortune shouldn’t be what makes me realize how much I have and how much everyone hear in America is doing better compared to countries like Ethiopia. 

Her great long black hair,

             (looks at the picture)

 

so thick and well brushed, and her clothes so colorful and clean. Them beautiful big brown eyes are the focus of the picture, they tell so much of her feelings and I can’t figure out why but her eyes just automatically make me smile, its like forced upon. Her smile and her teeth look like they are being treated, it just makes me so happy that i have my own tooth brush, I never really thought about it before. Toothbrushes are so second nature to us here, but for her it’s is not at the top of the list. That what makes me so happy to send her money every month, she too should have what I have and what my family has. I’m so proud of my children, as proud as a mother could ever be. 

 

             (yelling in the living room)

Guys, are you coming, Timmy, Sara, Hun? Its dinner time, we are have spaghetti and meatballs and it’s getting cold!

 

             (exits stage)

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