Pat Rooney
Every day has been an adventure for Tim and RaeLynn Martin since they adopted two boys from Ghana.
More appropriately, every day has been an adventure for the family’s new arrivals — 13-year-old Ebenezer Dotse and 10-year-old Joshua Agbogi — since the two boys finally reached the Martins’ Monument home on March 21.
Having never seen snow before, the boys did not even come inside for the first two hours, instead exploring the wonders of Colorado snowfall with their three new siblings. Eager to help out one day, Eben fired up the snow-blower, only to leave it in gear when the task was complete, thus forcing RaeLynn Martin to chase the elusive machine down the driveway.
Yet nothing illustrates the boys’ adjustment period more than the day a few weeks back when Eben stepped onto the treadmill in the family basement.
“He didn’t realize that the machine doesn’t do all the work for you,” explained RaeLynn Martin. “He turned it on and sure enough, he went right through the wall. So, he is going to learn dry-walling soon. But that was another wonder for him. He said, ‘What is this building made of?’ Because where he is from everything is made of concrete.”
There has been one endeavor that has provided a sense of comfort and familiarity to the new citizens, however, and that has been their immediate immersion into the Colorado Rush’s Pikes Peak Soccer Club.
Raised playing the game on dirt fields without shoes, Eben and Joshua each have smoothed their transition, while making the first of what surely will be many friends to come, by playing a game that recognizes no international boundaries.
“His mother called me and wanted to bring [Eben] to practice and he wanted to play, but he didn’t have any clothes yet,” said Nik Penn, the technical director of the Colorado Rush Pikes Peak Soccer Club. “He came in a pair of khakis and a jacket. He took off the jacket and in a few minutes he was out there. The shoes were weird to him, though. I think he took them off after only a couple minutes.
“So, even though he might be struggling with the language a little, or not having clothes or even the weather, on the soccer field all that is okay because it is all one language that has been a constant in his life. There is a goal, white lines, and other kids playing, and that is what he knows.”
Eben and Joshua essentially were rescued from a Ghana orphanage by the Martins, who first learned of the school and orphanage the boys attended when a friend traveled to the school last year to teach as part of a Master’s program.
The living conditions the boys lived in were atrocious, and those seeking to adopt often are consoled to stay away from older boys. Yet after finally meeting Joshua and Eben, the Martins could no longer resist bringing the pair into a busy household that already included two boys and a girl ranging from 7- to 11-years-old.
“It was incredibly important to get them both on a team right away,” RaeLynn Martin said. “Soccer is a worldwide language. We got them both on the field right away. Eben is more of a humble giant. Joshua is a little more brazen. He’s come off the field saying, ‘I will win every game.’ They are self-taught players though, and this is the first time they’ve ever been coached. They are still learning what a coach can do for them.”
A coach, a snow-blower and a treadmill, it all may be new to them, but these boys are settling in just fine.