BURGLED WHILE HER FAMILY SLEEPS...
SHERLY KUMAR AND HER FAMILY HAVE NOT ONLY FORGIVEN THE BOY, THEY HAVE OFFERED TO HELP PUT HIM BACK IN SCHOOL The Kumars do not want to see the boy ruin his life through a life of crime.
Sherly Kumar, husband Ronald and their two children slept soundly in their rooms as a teenage boy entered the porch of their Navua home in the early hours of yesterday.
They were unaware that the boy had stolen clothes and shoes. He did not disturb the family.
He was walking back home to Raiwaqa,
Navua, with the loot, at 2am when a Police patrol car stopped and two officers got out and questioned him.
“What is in the bag?” they asked him. The boy said his shoes were in the bag.
Not satisfied, the officers took him to the Navua Police Station, where he was further questioned before he admitted to stealing.
Acting on the information given by the boy, they went to Mrs Kumar’s home at Main Street, Navua.
At 6am, the officers showed Mrs Kumar the items and she confirmed they belonged to them.
Husband, Mr Kumar later went to the Police station, saw the boy and spoke to his father. He learned that the boy’s parents had separated.
The boy had told his father that he was going to see his mother in town on Monday. Then yesterday the father found out that the boy was at the station.
The boy was proving to be a handful for the dad. He was enrolled at Ratu Kadavulevu School in Tailevu, but he ran away and lived on the streets of Nausori.
His father then went to Nausori, picked him up and took him to Navua. Mr Kumar said they changed their mind about lodging an official complaint to the Police after they heard of the boy’s broken family history.
“We felt for the boy. He is a 15-year-old boy sitting in a Police cell. If he goes to court, convicted and sent behind bars, it could be the catalyst that will send him to a life of crime,” he said. “The signs are there that he is going down that slippery slope. If we can turn it around and help him to change, who knows what he can develop into. “He can become a productive member of society and a great asset for his family and his community.” The Kumars have forgiven the boy and they have told the boy’s father that they want the boy to go through professional counselling with the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation under the Department of Social Welfare before he returns to school.
They are willing to help pay for the cost of putting the boy through school. “This is the only way we can help lift this boy away from a life of crime. Otherwise, he will just become another statistic. He is young with talents and he has a future.”
The Kumars’ example is applauded. It’s a show of civic pride, patriotism and a love for their fellow Fijians irrespective of their backgrounds. This boy is an iTaukei, but the Kumars did not see him from a racial perspective.
They saw him as an ordinary Fijian needing help.
If we can all emulate them then we will be able to build a strong cohesive, peaceful and prosperous nation.
They are willing to help pay for the cost of putting the boy through school. Nemani Delaibatiki