Rosa Lee

Sunday, October 5, 2008
Rosa Lee
I just finished reading a fascinating (and heartbreaking) book called 'Rosa Lee.' The book is about the life of Rosa, a mother of 8 (she had her first at 14 years old) and grandmother to more than 30. Rosa lives in the housing projects of Washington, DC. She has always lived in poverty and is a heroin addict, prostitute, chronic shoplifter and drug dealer. Of her 8 kids, 6 of them followed her into a lifestyle of drugs, violence, and poverty.

I was heartbroken to read about how she helped her kids shoot heroin, turned tricks while her daughter slept in the bed next to her, and used her children and grandchildren to help her both shoplift and run drugs. Even her adult children live with her, bum money off her to buy drugs and refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Reading about the conditions they live in (plagued by fear, filled with mistakes and violence) I am both angry and broken. Yes, Rosa's children are living lifestyles that are just wrong and yes, I am angry at the fact that they are doing the same things to their children that their mom did to them (in fact, many of Rosa's grandchildren are also addicts, in prison or dealing drugs etc). My anger, however, is tempered by the realization that neither Rosa nor her children know anything different. No one has shown them another way to live, and how can they be expected to make choices differently than their mother, and everyone else they see and experience in their environment?

That said, 2 of Rosa's children DID make it out of the projects, and live within the bounds of "normal" society, with good jobs and without dependence on drugs, welfare or their mother. So what happened - how did these two make it out unscathed? The book's author asked the two children the same question - and it turns out that both of them had one person outside of their family who took a vested interest in their lives and success. For one of them, that person was a teacher who taught him how to read, and for the other it was a social worker who drove him to tutoring and just was there for him when he needed someone. Both of these people were able to demonstrate to Rosa's children that there was another way to live, that drugs and violence were not the only option.

My heart literally broke as I was reading this book, both for these kids and for the possibility that MY kids (ok i use "my" loosely here) might be living in these same circumstances. This possibility makes me want to rescue them, to take them into my home where I can love them and feed and clothe them properly, teaching them responsibility so they dont fall into the many traps that surround them in their environment. All I can do though, is pray for them, and hope that maybe Adam and I can be those people who offer these kids a new perspective, new options and a way out.
Posted by Becca at 7:31 AM
Labels: mentoring, Vision Atlanta