Eric Lafforgue is a seasoned traveler. He visited many countries, and now it is difficult to surprise him with anything. However, a recent visit to Ethiopia was long etched in his memory.
Near one of the pubs, Eric met an unusual boy. The traveler decided to find out more about the child and talked to him. It turned out that the boy’s name is Abash, he lives in a shack not far from the restaurant, where Eric Lafforgh later looked in. The unusual sky-blue color of the child’s eyes is the result of a congenital genetic disorder called Waardenburg syndrome.
This anomaly is extremely rare: approximately one case per 300,000 people. When Abash was born, his parents were frightened, deciding that their son was born blind. Due to poverty, they could not afford to see a doctor, so they had to wait for many months until it became clear that the baby could see well.
Then mom and dad came to the conclusion that blue eyes are not a curse at all, as they initially thought, but a gift from God! However, to the boy himself, his peculiarity caused a lot of trouble.
Abash is often bullied by other children because of the color of his eyes. Young wits call him “plastic eyes”, and the boy can not stand this incessant mockery.
When Abash was 8 years old, his parents decided to give him to his grandmother so that he would live closer to the city where the school is located. One night there was a fire in the hut. All the simple properties, along with all the textbooks, turned into ashes.
Fortunately, the grandmother and the boy managed to jump out in time and were not injured. After this incident, the boy moved to the city, because the fire destroyed his already small savings, and buying a bus ticket from his grandmother’s village every day became too much for him.
Having brought Eric to his new home, Abash was very embarrassed. “It’s dirty here…” he whispered, pointing to the cardboard box that had replaced his bed. The boy is crazy about football and does not miss a single game of Barcelona, watching matches in a nearby restaurant or nearby bars.
The boy’s idol is Lionel Messi, Abash simply adores him. “We are very similar. Both of us are not like everyone else!” the child said. The boy dreams of becoming an outstanding football player and plays football with other guys all his free time. Eric Lafforgue’s story about an unusual boy touched readers and scattered around the world. Kind people began to help Abash in any way they could: with things, food, and textbooks. Thousands of people wish Abash’s dream come true!
