Monday, June 3, 2019

Monita



This is Monita. I was with her 2 weeks ago. She is in the care of Amahoro orphanage in Kampala, Uganda, and its head honcho, Caleb. We have supported his orphanages for years. Monito was found on the streets at 4 months old. When Caleb took her to the hospital, the doctors told him she would only live for maybe 2 weeks. She had severe cerebral palsy and could not swallow. Some days later, Pediatricians from the US visiting Kampala hospital gave him the same diagnosis. Caleb told Lydia, who was to be her chief caregiver, even if she only lives 2 weeks, she will be loved the entire time.

Lydia began massaging her muscles multiple times a day. Caleb called us about her and we provided a specially made wheel chair so that she could go outside and watch the children play. They also secured an IV so they could feed her intravenously.

Monita is now 4 years old. She uses a walker to get around and can now sit up on her own. She is also able to eat strained fruits and vegetables. This, my friends, is a living miracle.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Somali: Relief in the Desert


We drove for hours on roads that were more suited to the camels we saw than the SUV we were in.  It was hot and harsh and everything and everyone was baked in sand. I asked Abdoo, our man on the ground, why in the world there was a refugee camp here. He told me that it was far worse where the people we were going to help had come from.

Thousands and thousands of people had fled drought and conflict and ended up here, in the desert, with nothing. And this is better than what they had been experiencing.  It's difficult to get my head around the horrors these people must have experienced that would make these conditions a relief.

We are the first charity to bring these people any aid.  We brought four trucks with us filled with over 30 tons of rice and 1,000 gallons of cooking oil. All of this was distributed to 1,000 grateful families, around 6000 people.