Please meet Joyce and other Children in Need!

Joyce (left) gave my heart the hardest blow recently. You would imagine I am used to such, but No! I still get emotional oscillations, every couple of days and sometimes every day! Tough!! Living in my world often means becoming so happy in the morning because a hopeless girl you met years ago walked into your office with so much hope; but all this gets altered in the evening when you meet a boy who needs more than you can provide! To the later category, you are 'the only answer' and honestly, living to their expectation is most times hard and painful. 

Joyce was among those that came that day, recently. It was a special day because we had visitors who had come with several gift items including tooth brushes, toothpaste, shoes and clothes. There was some scramble as everyone of the over 300 kids wanted to walk away with something! Lines were so short but thick with hands hanging out as flowers each waiting to hold something. The distribution went on and whoever got sat in a nearby chair waiting for hopefully

another call! It is a good feeling seeing the group that is seated because they often can afford a smile. Between those on the line and those seated, my eyes caught Joyce! She was standing barefooted on the concrete flow with hands folded around her chest. This is uncommon given what was going on! I walked close.

She did not say any word yet told me so much!! She had already received a dress and putting it on but on top of her only filthy dress she walked in with. The new dress was not fitting her but was not bothered. She had no shoes. As I pondered, one girl slightly older came in and was generous to tell me her story. 

Bear with me as this is getting longer than I wanted!

Joyce lives with her grandmother and lost her dad. Her mother abandoned her with her grandma and her whereabouts are unknown. Joyce cannot use shoes because she does not have one of her toes and has a big wound in its place. It is horrible how all this happened. One day as she sat around the fire place watching her grandma prepare a meal, the saucepan with boiling food fell off the fire and burnt her foot. Her fifth toes of the right foot was affected most. It became septic because she did not get any treatment. Grandma's herbs did not help either. One day as she made effort to clean it, the fifth toe broke off from the metatarsal bone. The wound is still not healed and her foot still has sores. Today, she has 9 toes because of controllable circumstances beyond her control. 

Joyce with her new dresses

We gave Joyce two new dresses but no shoes. She looked well on the outside but none of us can tell what was inside her heart! She never smiled! We will continue to pray for her and share between her and other children all that God will hopefully provide.

Anyway, there are many children like Joyce; children who have lost one or more toe; children whose metatarsals are broken! One such lost toes and broken metatarsals  for many children is 'hope'. We are doing our best to restore these through African Children Today and RODI!  Certainly you are welcome to join us. There different ways to do that. Visit our websites and learn how to do it. Visit African Children Today website. Visit RODI website.

You can also join our effort to build a school in the Rakai Community. This will go a long way in giving hope to so many children and their households. We are raising  $4,350 for the timber and $7,500 for the steel sheets, ridges and nails to be able to roof the first school block. Visit our website to see how to donate.

And lastly, pay us a visit if you are in Uganda or planning to visit the country. Send us an email if you have any questions.