Blog
Found Home…
JOE…
Tuesday morning is a day that will remain arched in our hearts forever. The short journey to Safe House and task of the day made us look forward with anticipation… It was Joe’s day to reunite with his family after his stay in Safe House following his rescue from the streets. His story was a sad one. He was abandoned in the streets at a younger age by his mother after a family separation. Both parents went separate ways but Joe was later found loitering the streets by police on patrol.
“…My mother packed our clothes and she told me we were going to another town. But when we got to the bus stop, she told me she had forgotten something and I should wait for her while she went back to pick it. I trusted her not knowing it was the last time I would be seeing her”. Narrated Joe painfully…
Three days passed and the mother was not back. Any attempts to reach her were futile as she switched off her phone never to look back. The police found him and Joe was placed at the Safe House where other homeless children stay.
At Safe House, Joe was safe and he started learning a lot… While there, we were invited to help trace his relatives. Through many calls and connections, an aunt and a grandfather were found willing to receive and raise Joe. An agreements was made for the grandfather to be his guardian and we planned the reintegration.
This was a happy ending that finally Joe had found a family and a home. We took the short drive to the grand father’s home town and he was already waiting to
receive us. After a heartwarming conversation, Joe’s grandfather signed the required documents and Joe finally took his belongings to join his grandfather. Looking at the two joyfully bade us goodbye was an emotional scene to behold. Watching their backs disappearing in the bustling crowd, we could not hold our joy knowing that it was another successful mission. Joe was finally home…May God watch over him.
One day at a time…
Musy
“…My mother and I lived happily but the happiness dwindled when she got married to this man whom I had thought would be my father… The man strictly told my mother that he would not be taking care of another man’s child. I don’t know why he hated me, yet my mother still agreed to get married to him and reject her own child…
Life became unbearable since at slightest mistake, the man would ill treat me, beat me up, accuse me of things I had not done to a point that I ended up asking other people for a place to sleep. Sometimes I would sleep in the neighbors’ old and incomplete house just to avoid my step-father and my mother…”
After many months of enduring this mistreatment, Musy decided to leave home and that is how he ended up on the streets. When we rescued him, Musy never wanted to go back to his mother and he suggested to be taken to his grandmother. The grandmother was traced and gladly welcomed him. We enrolled him back to school and this was a peaceful home for the young man to thrive…
Musy completed his primary school and joined secondary school not knowing his grandmother would not see him through. She got ill and passed on this year. Musy still leaves alone but there are other relatives in the homestead and we are still supporting his school needs. He has become a focused young man who wants to pursue military as a career.
Facing Stigma...
Kara
This boy is the only child of his late mother who passed away while he was younger. The where about of his father is not known but it is said, after he discovered the wife was HIV positive and the son was born positive, he physical abused her gave her resulting to complications leading to her death.
After the death of his mother, Kara was left in the hands of his grandmother in a rented house. They used to sell arrowroots along the highway and one day his grandmother was hit by a speeding car while on the roadside selling arrowroots and she died on the spot.
Kara was taken by the area chief to go live with his aunt who had a home a few kilometers from their village. The aunt has two children who are Kara’s cousin. The aunt started mistreating Kara mainly because of his HIV status and never wanted to see him play with her children that he would infect them!!
At the end, his aunt chased him away in fear the boy would infect her children. Kara started sleeping in the bushes and trenches at night and during the day he would go out to beg for money or scavenge for food. We later rescued him and a certain family (Aunt Rita) that knew his mother offered to be his guardian and since that time, Kara is well kept, attending school and he is in grade 5 now.
Our work in this community is to reduce misconceptions about HIV and fight stigma for the sake of this boy. We shall continue offering social support by monitoring his progress in school and at home where he is now living with Aunt Rita. Fortunately, the school management waivered his school fees for unknown period. Kara is talented in writing songs and singing as well. He has a passion about for farming and already made a kitchen garden where Aunt Rita’s family gets fresh vegetables every day..
Sincerely, we cannot close our eyes to the needs of these children and families. For them to settle especially with the guardians, they need food, clothing, shelter and school needs met.
You can pick a child or a family we have shared, and with your financial support we help to foster hope in seemingly hopeless situations.
