JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - It's hard to get irritated with Elijah when he starts taking toasters, toys and old DVD players apart. First, this 14-year old will flash you a sly grin, then he'll show what he's done to make the electronics he's dismantled as good as new. He's been an engineer in the making since 7-years old. The one thing he hasn't been able to fix on his own is his broken family. Elijah's mother left him at the hospital after giving birth.
"She left and the only thing she left was my grandmother's telephone number", Elijah tells me.
According to Elijah, he's has spoken to this mother on the phone a time or two in his life. He says, the conversations are always the same--she's trying to get her life together..
Elijah knows it's a situation he can do nothing about. But what he can do, is have faith that a family will soon offer him a home in a safe, loving environment. He tells me, he really needs a father figure in his life.
"A boy needs a man in his life to talk to, or if you have personal problems you can get advice."
