Usha with Usha, Joseph and his grandparents (Kenya, June 2006)
Last year, when I visited Kenya I made a commitment to see as many of SHARE’s sponsored orphans as possible. During that visit in 2005, I traveled throughout the province of Nyanza meeting with the children, school principals, teachers, and guardians. These are the people who enable SHARE to make a difference between life and death for each orphan. I wanted to see for myself how effectively and directly our sponsors’ hard-earned monies go into taking care of all these children—children who are in boarding school as well as those in day school.
Joseph is one such orphan who goes to a day school in the Suba District of the Nyanza province. When we arrived at his school at lunch time, Cyprina had suggested that we visit Joseph’s guardian’s home. In day schools, children get two hours to go home for lunch. Joseph’s guardians are his octogenarian, blind grandfather and his doting grandmother. We arrived and chatted with this very frail looking elderly couple that had lost their own eight children and their spouses to AIDS. They had lost all, with one exception—a treasured grandchild, the sole survivor who is now being sponsored by SHARE. The couple greeted me warmly and asked me to join them in a prayer thanking the Lord for all they have received. I was awed that, here in this mud hut, these two who had lost nearly all that is dear to them while suffering abysmal poverty, shared a reason to thank the Lord and shared a beacon of hope notwithstanding the undeniable evidence of death and devastation that surrounded them. Where I felt despair, they felt gratitude.
Joseph’s grandfather (Kenya, June 2006)
While we waited for Joseph to come home I learned that the grandmother tilled the small yard surrounding the hut to raise millet and vegetables for the three of them. 2005 was not a good year for the rains were sparse and nothing was growing in the yard. Our wait was turning too long when finally the grandmother noted that sometimes Joseph does not come home for lunch because all she can offer him is water. I was devastated and overwhelmed at the hopelessness of it all.
We decided to go back to the school to see Joseph. As I was leaving I gave the old woman whatever I had in my wallet and asked her if she needed anything—realizing instantly the absurdity of my question. She asked if I would buy her a goat. I readily agreed. She asked if I would make sure that it was a pregnant goat! So, at a cost of $12, I delivered a pregnant goat to the family. Later that day we met Joseph, a skinny kid who was doing well in school.
That was in 2005.
So now, a full year later during my visit this June 2006, I decided that I wanted to see this elderly couple whose memory had haunted me for a year.
I was aware that the rains this year had been ample as evident from the greenery bursting all around the same little mud hut that I had come to a year earlier. Unlike last year, the little yard had many vegetables and a harvested crop of millet was drying on a mat. This year they will be able to eat, I thought to myself. The elderly couple welcomed me warmly. With sheer delight I learned that the prolific pregnant goat had delivered two kids this year and in my honor one of them had been named Usha!
The goats had been a great source of milk. I marveled at the change in the family as they gave me a gift of a papaya from their yard—a gift that I know they could ill afford. Once again we thanked the Lord, this year perhaps with more to thank for than the last. We shot some photos and left but not before a prayer of thanks!
As I was leaving I reflected on how a single investment of $12 could make such a huge difference in this part of the world. It was indeed a long way for me to come to see a goat and I know I must return again with more sponsors because, you see, in the district of Suba alone there are 200,000 orphans.
SHARE currently sponsors 170 orphans. We have another 40 orphans that are waiting for sponsors. Our work has just begun!
If you would like to make a difference in the lives of these children and families, please consider being part of our SHARE Orphan Sponsorship program