Awareness

Justice Sullivan: This is my story, this story is 4-Good!

I spent around 8 years of my early childhood in Ghana, Africa. I would say for the average child living in Ghana it is not the best, but it is certainly not the worst either. Each day I would see kids playing with others, having fun, and enjoying the company of one another.   For a normal child, a rough day would be the day where your family would run out of water, and you would have to walk for miles to bring water back home. Or if your mom didn't sell enough things to afford food that night you would go to bed on an empty stomach.  

For me I had a very different experience living in Ghana, since I was born with albinism which caused my skin to be lighter and my hair to be a different color from everyone else's. 

In the United States this would not have been an issue, but in Ghana when you are born with this condition people associate it with being cursed. Because of this I was isolated from everyone.

I was not allowed to play with other kids, and the grown-ups treated me horrible. Each day my mom would go to work leaving me at home with just my little brother. I had to be able to take care of myself from a very young age. All this plus the challenges of not having access to water or food made it very hard and a lonely childhood for me.

During these times things seemed hopeless, I was left all alone in an environment where it was almost impossible to make anything of yourself. Fortunately for me God had a plan for my life. One day Jake and Janel, my now Dad and Mom showed up in my village, talked with my mom, and spent some time with me. I didn't really know what they were doing there at the time, but after they left my biological Mother told me I was going to be adopted by them. It took a few years, but I was eventually adopted and brought to the United States of America. 

“Suddenly my life had been flipped upside down. I didn't speak any English, which was probably the hardest part of it all because I was not able to communicate with anyone, and as a child that was a scary thing to deal with. School was very hard for me as I had to re-learn everything, and I was years behind all the other kids my age. “

It took a lot of summer school to finally get me caught up to all my peers. Around this time, I also began to realize that I was no longer being looked at the way people looked at me when I was in Ghana.

My Dad ran a basketball team, so I figured the way to make friends was to play. I was never really any good at basketball, but around that same time I also started playing football which came a lot easier to me than basketball did. In 8th grade I stopped playing basketball and focused my energy on school and football. This focus would soon pay off for me. After my sophomore year in high school, I received a scholarship to play at the University of Iowa. I committed there in hopes of playing more football, but more importantly I wanted to get a degree that I could use to help better other people's lives. 

Through all of this I would come to know Jesus, who ultimately saved my life. A lot of times I sit back and think about how my life could have been, if God had not planted Jake and Janel in my life, and if my biological Mother would not have let me go for adoption.

For a while I thought why should I help anyone in Ghana? It's not my job to help anyone cause when I needed help everyone turned their back on me. As I wrestled with these realities of my time in Ghana while traveling back to Ghana on numerous occasions since being adopted, I started to realize that there are many kids like me. Kids who feel isolated and alone in their community. Kids like me who believe their situation is hopeless and there is no way out.

I invite you to come along on this journey with me while we remind a world that you are wanted, and that there is a world out there who wants to do good!

But why does it matter? 

At One City we feel a sense of responsibility to step in to help, and that is why I have decided to start 4-Good International. Through 4-Good we want to provide the help that Justice needed when he was a child. We want to show the kids that there is hope out there and that there are people who are willing to step in and help. We want to show them that God has not given up on them and that no matter how hopeless their situation may seem there is always someone fighting for them!