Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, And Hope In An African Slum

Kennedy spends his childhood looking up to the Catholic Church as a place of refuge. For a period of time, he supports his family by accepting donations from a nun. Later in his childhood, when he lives on the streets, he attends Sunday mass to see his siblings and his mother. An Italian priest takes an interest in Kennedy, helping him to go to school and get a job. Kennedy had never been happier. “‘A priest,’ he says with total seriousness. ‘That changed later on. But I saw the priests living what looked to me like a nice life; they were the ones who had food to eat, driving in cars’” (87). Priests initially provide a path to education, food, and safety, although this changes suddenly when a priest sexually abuses Kennedy. The Italian priest gets called back to Europe, and he is kicked out of the school he is attending on a scholarship. After the abuse, Kennedy feels abandoned by God.

He does turn back to the Church to establish a meeting place for SHOFCO in its early days, but they kick him out for teaching about condoms and safe sex for AIDS prevention. He is happy to find a new place to meet (the soccer fields) where he is not bound by an organization’s tenets.