Missing People

Sarah Jarman - 5 Jun 17

There have been a lot of tears in our household recently. As reports continue to flood in from around the world regarding yet another terrorist attack I cannot help but shed a tear for the families involved. In the last three months I have had to sit my eldest daughter down three times to describe atrocities in her home country so that she hears about them from me and not in the school playground. Her reaction to the latest attack in London? ‘What AGAIN?’ Whilst I remain as positive as I can in these situations, I have to admit I am struggling to find stories about the GOOD in the world.

Last week my little sister recommended I sat down to watch the movie ‘Lion’. I was warned to have a box of tissues to hand. I had to question her motives, I really don’t need anything else to cry over, but received the instructions, ‘just watch it.’ So I watched it, and I cried. I cried A LOT. I basically became a complete wreck and only stopped crying once I had cried myself to sleep. I won’t give any spoilers but for those unfamiliar with the story line it revolves around the disappearance of a young boy in India. The film provides the statistics that 80,000 children go missing every year in India with over 11 million unattended children living on the streets. These statistics are heart wrenching, but for those of us living in England it is easy to remove ourselves from them. We picture impoverished families in slums, children taking to the streets in the search for food. It is not something that concerns US. Or is it? How about the UK’s statistics? Over 300,000 people go missing per year in The UK. But where do they all go?

This movie really hit a nerve with myself and my sister. Not simply because it is an emotional rollercoaster portraying further harsh realities of the human race, but because we have a person missing. Our missing person is not newsworthy, they have not been taken, kidnapped, abducted, but they are apart from us. Our missing person is our little brother, whom we hope is still living safely with his Mum in China. Sadly circumstances have meant his Mum and our Dad lost touch in the past and now we cannot find him. To us China feels like it may as well be on another planet. We have asked Chinese friends to help search on various forms of social media, but given the language barriers and no known locations we have not, as yet, been very successful.

I would love for this post to have a happy ending, as I began writing it I had hoped that was the direction I was going in. There has been no happy ending in our search as yet, but what I can say is, while we may well struggle to find the good in every day life as terrorist attacks become an ever evolving harsh reality, as people are hurt, killed, or simply vanish, there are always more people willing to help than to hurt. The thousands that attended last night’s concert in aid of the Manchester victims. The people that rushed to the streets to help those injured in London, or the people who did look out for the little boy missing in India (based on a true story). Our family have our own helpers, and for those people we will remain truly grateful. Somewhere out there our little brother needs to know that he is loved, missed and wanted, and we shall continue to hunt for him until this story has a happy ending.

Sarah Jarman

Primarily a Mum, aspiring Author, Freelance Writer and Artist, Blogger, Foodie and Jewellery Designer just having fun doing all the things I love! My portfolio available to view over on my website www.saspsdesigns.com

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