SILENT SAVIOR JOSHUA JUSTIN FOUNDATION​ 501(c)(3)

Joshua Aadith Justin was a friendly and jovial 10 year old boy who had a bright smile, sharp eyes and a boy of few words. He had a unique gift. His creativity he expressed through his drawings, sketches and various art forms spoke bounds on his vivid imagination. He was passionate in what he loved to do.
He was born in Fairfax, Virginia to us Justin Felix and Vinitha Paul and lived most of his life in Ashburn, VA, USA. Joshua was our first born to the eldest children and so he was the first grandchild to both his maternal and paternal grandparents.  He was educated in the fastest growing Loudoun county education system in Virginia, USA. Joshua was a great biblical leader who brought God’s people to their promised land. Joshua’s birth gave us a good reason to make USA our home, our promised land, away from India our home by birth. Aadith means “peak” in hindi language.  We wanted Joshua to attain the “peak” in whatever he pursued in life. He is and was special. Everyone was fond of Joshua in our family. Joshua also loved his family and we were his world. Joshua spent most of his life in Pioneer ridge Terrace in Ashburn, VA. He moved to this home when he was 10 months old. His 2 year old life was filled with undivided attention from his parents and his superhero toys and movies. When he was three years old he went to Christian Fellowship School (now County Christian School) in Loudoun County. His 3 yr old preschool teacher quoted “Josh will be an architect when he grows up” watching his passion towards his blocks and his finesse in building blocks.

Joshua – His creativity and Arts
In 2007 Joshua entered 4 year pre-school. This was where he was introduced to drawing and coloring. He quickly learnt from his assistant teacher to draw and color and took a liking. His 4 yr preschool teacher in her own words, “Joshua can express better through his drawings than his words. At his age he drew action figures when children were drawing sticks to draw human figures. He is advanced for his age in his artistic capabilities.” There was our motivation to give him all platform to promote what he excelled in. He enjoyed his art summer camp in Ashburn that summer.
Spring 2010 was time for school competitions season. In county Christian school they held an art competition. Joshua was in kindergarten and we decided that we should enter his art work from summer camp for this competition. Joshua was very reluctant to submit his work. But we wanted to showcase his talents to the world against his wishes. We collected the best of his art, choosing a name based on the theme of the art works and submitting. A few weeks later before graduation, the results came out. He got the first place which he shared with another student in the whole kindergarten. This not only surprised him but was a writing in rock about his artistic talents which as parents we were very excited. He not only won the first place in kindergarten in his school but a second place award in the ACSI southeast division. This was a colorful turnout. After this was confidence personified with his pencil and paintbrush now. He was the winner always in Pictionary. He drew when he was happy, he drew to wish his friends, teachers and relatives, he drew when he was sad and drew us his parents funnily to make us laugh. He drew superheroes in seventy different ways. 2010 lent was when he was introduced to Jesus and the concept of Good Friday and Easter. So every day and night and for breakfast, lunch and dinner he drew Jesus crucified on the cross in almost 500 different types and perspectives. He did it to such an extent that overwhelmed us with the passion of Christ that we distracted him to start drawing the resurrection and the nativity. Now you can imagine what turned out next.

Joshua – His creativity through Video games
Another passion was video games. He started playing video games when he was 4 years old. His favorite game during that time was Mario. Even Mario could not escape Joshua’s imaginative impulses. He pictured Mario in different shapes and sizes and angles that Shiteru miyamoto might have been proud of. Ben 10 was another favorite cartoon and video game character. It excited Joshua of the many forms Ben 10 took. Many more Ben 10 versions started appearing on notepads, printing paper and his school home work. Whenever teacher gave Joshua a tough schoolwork.  Ben 10 started appearing on the school work at and end or the back. It was hard to understand at the outset that he was procrastinating. But it was Joshua thinking hard with his fingers scribbling art before he solved the problem. The drawing gave confidence and juice to his brain. That was his kickstart.
Joshua’s interest grew towards expressing his creativity in Minecraft around age 7 He created worlds of magic. Minecraft was like Joshua’s playground at his backyard. He created houses and rooms that fit only his imagination. He once showed us how he built his bedroom that had a fountain surrounded by colorful garden.

Joshua - Books and movie maker
Once Joshua started reading books he did not let go. This was another tool that fed his imagination. He took to reading Charlie and the chocolate factory, Harry potter, Diary of a wimpy kid series, Warriors series and when he was 9 and 10 years old he always had a manga book in his hand. Naruto was the character he was obsessed with. He not only read the books but collected memorabilia and toys related to the characters. He even read the biography about Steve Jobs. By this time iphone, ipad apps and games and youtube videos where his close friends. They were not only feasts to his creative hunger but also gave new ideas to venture. As a result he and his friend made a movie on the first battle of Gettysburg with characters out of play dough. He made all the soldiers, horses, swords and canons. It was an instant hit in his 4th grade class.

Joshua – Comics and Manga
His latest passion was manga books. He started reading the Naruto series. There was a reason. We found out from all his sketches in his notepad that we bought him. Every night before going to sleep he laid on his bunk bed, crossed legged and notepad and pencil in hand would sketch his own cartoon characters which one day he envisioned he will create his own comic book series. Even his last words were Manga books & Cat o nine tails.

Joshua – A learner and a teacher
Joshua was a teacher naturally and a great helper. We had our second child Sam when Joshua was close to 6 years. He was very excited to have a brother. As Sam became a toddler, and as Joshua expected, Sam became a fan of Joshua. He loved, laughed and learnt many things from Joshua. Joshua would secretly take Sam to his bunk bed and both watched hours of videos and played games which Sam would diligently watch and learn from him. Sam had an elder brother who was his inspiration. In 2013 August we had our 3rd child and our only girl Iniya. Joshua now felt like a big brother. He was a great help with the baby in the house. Carrying his sister around when we needed was fun for him. He was excited to help with the baby. We lovingly explained to him how he would be the leader of the family and be a mentor for his brother and sister when we grow old, he beamed with pride through his captivating smile.
Joshua always had quest for learning new things and passing it on to others. Joshua’s 10th birthday was special. He wanted to upgrade to a premium video game. We gifted him an Xbox one. He earned it. 2014 summer he helped paint our kitchen. He negotiated with his mom and got 100$ for this task. He even contributed that money towards his games for xBox one. When he was 4 years old we bought him his first Nintendo DS. We remember teaching him the Nintendo DS. When he was 10 we were proud when he actually taught us how to use the controllers in xBOx one for Titanfall game. We were always amazed when we saw him playing xBox with his friends watching in awe when he played his games. He never stopped there, whatever he learnt he had passed it to his friends and Sam. He showed how to browse the various videos in Youtube and learn many arts and crafts just by watching. Sam still continues to watch and learn just like how Joshua taught him.

Joshua – He never gave up
Joshua never gave up even if he was not good at something. Joshua was moderate when it came to sports. He had interest in soccer and basketball which he was ok. But he never missed a game even though he did not excel in them. Even with a 101 fever he played one soccer game where his team needed players badly. He also learnt guitar. He was a little slow in picking up at the beginning. But with the right teacher who understood his taste he gave 4 recitals so far. His favorite tune to play was Ode to Joy. Joshua had so much trouble in learning to balance on the bike. He was fearful of falling down. From age 4 until he was 9 he tried hard every summer to learn and ride his bike. On his 9th year one fine summer afternoon, he went to ride his bike for the umpteenth time and he finally conquered it. He rode so well, that seeing his capability the local bike store suggested getting a 24 inch trek mountain bike. He rode it with such finesse, he rode with his dad on the W&OD trail.

Joshua – Lives forever
Joshua left this world Dec 26th 2014 leaving all of us shocked at such an early age.  He had so much of life left in him in this world. Even though there are no answers why God took him so early his life seemed lived to the fullest. When we were touching, feeling and reading into all the things that Joshua touched, felt and wrote we found a note from his schoolwork. The note had a question, “If you were born as an animal in your lifetime which animal will you choose”. We read Joshua’s reply, “I would like to be born as a tortoise, so I could live for over a 100 years.” Our hearts became heavy and eyes wet. Silent Savior Joshua Justin foundation is Joshua for us. We yearn to see Joshua in every child who we help through this foundation. This is a promise we made to Joshua to live his name not just for 100 years but forever.