When Akite first joined the Child Sponsorship Program, her family did not know that they too would benefit. Akite’s father, Awany, was grateful to God for helping him with one of his four children.

We gave Akite school fees, medical care, a mosquito net, clothes, shoes, a blanket and a mattress. Awany knew he would have to continue struggling to provide for the other three children and his wife, but he underestimated how much the Child Sponsorship Program would help his entire family.

Awany has since received so much more than he had ever imagined. Today he looks back with a smile. It is hard for him to believe how far he has come. Even his community has benefited.

When the Adwari Child Development Center first opened, a 20-year insurgency in the northern part of Uganda had just ended. Everyone was still in fear.

Many had been tortured. They witnessed their loved ones die. Others were forced by the rebels to kill their loved ones. Property and crops were destroyed and the people were destitute.

The best thing that could have happened to this land was the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet Pastor Joseph, overseer of Corner Adwari Victory Outreach Church tells us that some people would not receive the gospel because they were too hurt. Some of them felt that if God really loved them, he would have rescued them and their loved ones. They were hopeless.

When we began a partnership with Corner Adwari Victory Outreach Church, most of the people were homeless and had no food. Many died from starvation.

Most of the survivors were still living in camps at the church and feared going back to their homes. Awany, who narrowly survived death, remembers that during this tough time there was a famine and our ministry distributed food to all the families of the registered children.

Awany received 45 kgs of beans and 50 kgs of maize flour each month for two months. He also received supplemental foods like eggs and milk for Akite, who was 4 years old at the time. Akite and her 2-year-old sister escaped death because of this intervention. Even as he received this food, Awany shared some of it with his starving neighbors.

He cannot imagine what he would have done without this assistance. At that time no one really planted crops because people thought that the rebels would come back any time.

Awany lost 84 heads of cattle to raiders and when he went back to his home, he found a shattered house. Awany had little comfort because he also lost three brothers to the war. He had to start from scratch.

A miracle happened when Akite got a sponsor. Akite’s sponsor sent her family a cash gift and Awany invested it in goats. Eventually these goats multiplied and he was able to provide for his family. One of his children often fell sick and he used the money he got from the business to treat her.

Many children in this area still go without clothes, but Awany was able to buy clothes for his children and also pay for their school fees. He was thankful for Akite’s sponsor.

Sometimes Akite’s sponsor sends personalized gifts for her, but many times she sends the entire family a gift. For each gift and letter that is sent by his daughter’s sponsor, Awany has ceremoniously recorded it in a book.

Perhaps the greatest gift they have received is the money Awany used to construct a new small brick house for the family. The house is almost complete and recently Awany bought 18 iron sheets to complete it. He is overjoyed. Awany and his family are blessed indeed; most of the people in their village live in grass-thatched huts of mud and wattle.

All parents of registered children receive different training at the child development center. One training that changed Awany’s life was that of sanitation and hygiene.

Awany confesses that before this training, he did not think that having a toilet was important. When his family needed to make toilet calls, they would simply do it in the bush or dig up small holes, use them, and later cover them with soil.

Most people in the village did the same. But when he received training on sanitation and hygiene, Awany resolved to build a toilet for his family.

Many people were affected with HIV/AIDS during the Lord’s Resistance Army war. Awany has benefited from the voluntary counseling and testing that the child development center arranged for all caregivers. He was found free of the virus and benefited from training on how to stay free from HIV/AIDS. Awany and his wife have also received training on nutrition and now their children are living a healthy life.

Awany also received seeds from the Compassion center to plant trees and they have since grown. He hopes to sell the wood some day and continue to generate income from the trees.

His wife, Amongi, planted a garden of ground nuts from the seeds they received from the child development center. They are grateful because now they do not have to worry about food. Their garden has since flourished.

The larger community has also benefited from the presence of our Child Sponsorship Program in Adwari. The center received Complimentary Interventions funds for water and they built a borehole in the community.

Now the people in this area enjoy fresh and clean water. Before this borehole was constructed some families had to walk many miles to fetch water from ponds.

Awany is grateful to our ministry and the church, which have been a great support to him, his family and his village. The practical help that we offer to the caregivers has also gone a long way in helping people in this area receive the gospel of Christ.

Pastor Joseph says that since the Child Sponsorship Program started more people have joined his church and our presence is a blessing to all the families of registered children and to the community.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Eva was fondly called “everybody’s friend.” At 10 years of age, she was young and tender. The most striking feature about her countenance was the long, delicate, silken hair that framed her beautiful face.

It was often said of her at Bugolobi Child Development Center, where I worked as a child development officer, that Eva would not need to go to a salon because “the salon in heaven did a good job.”

Eva always had a smile for everyone, including strangers, but behind her radiant smile raged a monstrous battle. Opportunistic diseases attacked her daily.

One day, Eva would be bedridden with malaria; another day, it would be a severe cough.

We just did not know what to expect. As such, her Saturdays, when the development center expected her, were often pre-empted by trips to the local hospital. Eva had acquired HIV at birth from her late mother.

One day as I was reviewing the attendance register, it occurred to me that Eva had not attended the center programs for nearly a month.

She had not written a letter to her sponsor, nor had she been available for her child-update photograph. Neither Eva nor her father had given any reason for her lengthy absence.

Nicholas, the center director, and I walked to the shack where Eva’s father lived and asked him about his daughter. He said he had sent her to visit her family in Kawolo, the family’s ancestral village in the far-away district of Lugazi. Her father assured us she would return soon.

After a month, Eva had not returned. Her father avoided Nicholas and me, leaving his shack early in the morning under the guise of going to work and returning late at night after Nicholas and I had closed the office.

We had every reason to end Eva’s sponsorship because she was no longer benefiting from the center programs. An integrity issue was at stake, for Eva’s sponsor was remitting money to the center every month.

It took a group of children in Bugolobi’s Middle East slum to inform us that Eva’s father had abandoned her in Kawolo.

Earlier, when our child development center conducted HIV testing for all the children in the sponsorship program, Eva had tested HIV-positive. Her father received the information but refused to take the test himself.

When Eva’s condition worsened into full-blown AIDS that was visible to onlookers, he no longer wanted to be associated with her. He was afraid his friends and colleagues would think that since his daughter was HIV-positive, then he, too, was HIV-positive.

Eva’s father decided to bundle up the little angel and take her to Kawolo village to “save his face.” When we finally were able to approach him, he showed remorse for his actions.

We hired an ambulance and paramedics and drove to Kawolo village in Lugazi district. We arrived in the heat of the noonday African sun. Beautiful Eva lay shivering, as though it were winter, on a bare mat in a derelict thatched hut.

She had thinned so much that her skeleton protruded beneath her skin. Her lovely hair had fallen out. Eva’s lips had transformed into a wound so big that she was unable to eat. I could not tell how long it had been since she had last eaten.

Eva could not move any part of her body except for her frightened eyes. She saw me and tried to say something but was unable to form words.

The paramedics immediately put her on an intravenous drip and carried her to the ambulance. I rode in the front of the ambulance, worried that Eva would die before we could get her to the Joint Clinical Research Center, the leading hospital in Uganda for HIV/AIDS research.

At the hospital Eva received a clean, warm bed and the best medical care Uganda could offer. Slowly she began to improve and gain weight. She started to smile again, but she had lost her ability to speak.

I visited her in the hospital every day and prayed with her. I delivered flowers and get-well cards from her friends and staff at the child development center and from concerned parents. Eva’s recovery was remarkable.

With Christmas festivities approaching, Eva greatly missed her family in Kawolo. She had been in-hospital for three months, and the medical personnel decided that it was now safe to discharge her so she could join her family for Christmas.

It was a joy for Nicholas, the medical personnel and me to watch Eva step out of the hospital. We placed her in a taxicab and bid her farewell to reunite with her family. Then we, too, went to be with our families for Christmas.

On Boxing Day, I received a phone call that Eva had died.

I froze. I asked God, “Why? How?” It felt as though a part of my being had been severed. I traveled for the burial. The entire village came to mourn Eva.

A scuffle erupted as to what mode the burial should take. Some of Eva’s family were Muslim and others were Seventh Day Adventist. Each wanted to bury Eva in accordance with their religion.

Finally, a tough-speaking man rose up from among the mourners and rebuked the two warring factions.

He told them that when Eva was alive and suffering, none of them cared for her. The only people who cared for her were from Compassion International.

He told them that Eva did not die a Muslim or a Seventh Day Adventist. She died having confessed Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior.

At that moment, the mourners burst into tears and sang Uganda’s famous revival song, “Tukutendereza Yesu.” Translation: “Praise Jesus.”

I was given opportunity to speak as the Compassion International representative; I gave an altar call. Several people – including Eva’s father – gave their lives to Christ and we joyfully laid Eva to rest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Kateu served as a child development officer with Bugolobi Child Development Center for seven years before joining our Uganda field office as sponsor and donor services associate in July 2008.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

AIDS and poverty. Poverty and AIDS. One doesn’t cause the other, but for children and families living in extreme poverty, AIDS is especially devastating.

Several factors multiply the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

One is the lack of prevention education.

Another is the high cost of treatment and the difficulty of getting the lifesaving medicinal tablets that travel 10,000 miles to travel that last mile, into the hands of the people who need them.

To travel beyond the clinic and into the slum. To travel down the dusty roads in the rural areas. And up the hills and down into the valleys to the out-of-the-way places.

Other factors of poverty contributing to the incidence of HIV/AIDS include:

• poor health facilities
• communication and transportation difficulties
• unstable governments
• the prevalence of environmental diseases

Currently, less than 10 percent of HIV-positive children in need of treatment are being treated.

This year the World AIDS Day global focus is on zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Which is a big deal when you consider that more than 6,800 new HIV infections occur daily, worldwide, and more than 5,700 people die of AIDS each day.

But beyond the death and physical illness, among the many challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS are the stigma and discrimination that come with it.

People living with HIV/AIDS in extreme poverty are still feared, avoided and ostracized. People who overcome their fears and get tested for HIV are often still afraid to speak out and educate or advocate for others – which is why we have this blog post.

AIDS and poverty. Poverty and AIDS. If you care about releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name, then that means you should care about fighting AIDS.

So get out there and fight.

Do one thing today (World AIDS Day), one thing with purpose, one thing to help the world get to zero and bring some glee to a child.

Sources: www.childinfo.org, www.unaids.org, www.unicef.org

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World AIDS Day 2011 is about zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Depending on how you look at it, and taken individually, those could be small things to accomplish, or they could be pretty big things, beyond our ability to achieve.

When talking with friends, I’ve come across a few things that are just too big for me to comprehend. I don’t understand the vastness of the universe. I don’t get how it’s supposedly constantly expanding.

How is that possible if there is no edge?

I don’t grasp the concept of time going on for eternity in each direction. These things boggle my simple mind.

And then, there are some things that are so SMALL they are beyond my comprehension. I don’t understand how something so tiny that it can only be seen through a microscope can cause irreversible damage to the human body.

Yet, to date, over 33 million people — spread out on every continent — are struggling with a tiny little terrorist in their blood streams, attacking healthy cells, breaking down the person’s immunity … and no one knows how to stop it.

I’m talking, of course, about HIV/AIDS.

This past summer, a few reports came out that scientists have discovered a new, breakthrough treatment for HIV/AIDS. I’m so glad there are people out there who can comprehend the small things beyond my grasp.

I’m glad there are those who spend their careers constantly peering through microscopes to take on the dangers the rest of us cannot see.

Regardless of my limitations, there is one thing I do understand: There are over 16 million children who have been orphaned because of this terrible disease.*

16,600,000.

I want you to see the whole number. That’s how many little boys and girls have lost mommy or daddy to the invisible invader.

If HIV/AIDS was a masked intruder, we’d do whatever it takes to put him behind bars. If it was a government, we’d demand invasion until the leaders were toppled and the children freed. If HIV/AIDS were anything our minds could grasp, we wouldn’t sleep until they were gone for good.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day 2011. Please join me in praying for the 5,000 people who will die today, tomorrow, and every day after, because of HIV/AIDS.

I ask that you say a prayer for the millions of children who will lose a parent and the millions of others who will lose a son, daughter, friend or relative.

And please pray for those who comprehend the small things. Pray for those who are fighting to stop this awful pandemic. Pray they receive wisdom, insight and opportunity.

Sometimes the small things … are very big things indeed.

*Source: USAID

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Would you adopt a child who is HIV-positive?

My husband and I discuss adoption frequently. The beauty and courage involved is alluring. It’s a dream we both share. But we’ve never considered this:

Would we be willing to adopt a child who is HIV-positive?

My gut reaction is,

“Of course! I wouldn’t even give it a second thought!”

But I’ve had the privilege of spending a week with a group of Ugandan children, all of whom were HIV-positive. I would have happily taken home one of those precious children.

But then, the follow-up questions arise.

• What ramifications, both financially and medically, would we have to consider?
• How might it affect any other children we may have?
• Are we prepared to deal with the social stigma, fear and ignorance surrounding HIV, possibly for many years to come?

We never reached a decision, mostly because it was a question that arose from a book I had finished reading rather than a desire to adopt a child here and now.

But it was good to discuss and prayerfully consider, because arguably an orphan who is HIV-positive has a more recognizable need for the love of a family and the hope of Jesus Christ.

So, what do you think? Would you be willing to adopt a child who is HIV-positive?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

At night when no one was watching and the guard had been bribed, Rose, her four children and her husband would huddle together in one of the stalls of the local market to sleep. Rose and her husband were HIV-positive, and their health was getting worse and worse.

With no jobs and no rent money, they spent a year homeless in the chilly Rwandan nights.

“We lived in the market for a year while bribing the market guard not to send us out until a friend of my husband rented a tiny house for us. The house was so tiny that later my husband’s coffin could not fit.”

Rose’s husband passed away in 2004 from HIV-related illnesses, leaving her and her children in an even more desperate situation.

“I did not have even 100 Rwandan francs (U.S. $0.17) with children to feed and no source of income. My biggest concern was where we would leave our children as I watched my and my husband’s health waste away.”

But at this lowest point in their lives, a local church, a Compassion partner, intervened. The church was sponsoring children in need, and Aliane, one of Rose’s four children, was sponsored.

According to center staff member Sebazima, Aliane’s health was in critical condition when she was first registered.

“She was very weak and sick. She had a big swelling on her face, which was later diagnosed as tuberculosis of the jaw. Almost all of her teeth were decayed.”

The child development center helped Aliane get medical attention, including a test to find out if she was suffering from the same virus that killed her father. She was.

“It is from such biting poverty and nakedness that Compassion gathered my life and restored hope, not only for Aliane, but for my entire family,” says Rose.

Aliane and her mother were able to receive antiretroviral drugs, along with nutritional supplements such as milk, fish and rice to keep them strong while taking the medicine.

Once Rose’s health had improved, she received money to start a small business. She had experience in embroidering, so she bought an embroidering machine to start a sewing business.

Rose was skilled, and she received many requests to make school sweaters for children, including a contract to make sweaters for Compassion-sponsored children.

Since that time, Rose’s business has blossomed. With her profits, she has bought four more sewing machines and employs workers to meet the increasing demand for her sweaters.

Rose has also been able to buy a four-room house for her family and business, along with a piece of land where she is planning to plant a vegetable garden.

Young Aliane is now 15 years old and in her first year of secondary school. She is one of the brightest students in her class and likes chemistry and math.

“Compassion got me when I was very, very poor. They registered me and took me to school. They paid my fees, gave me shoes, and blessed me with a wonderful sponsor. We didn’t have a house but now we are in our own home. My mum had one sewing machine, but now we have many. I used to be very sick, but now I am okay. I know I shall live long like everyone else who is not HIV-positive.”

Aliane’s siblings also now have hope for their future. Rose has managed to send her other three children to school with the profits from her sewing business.

With tears, Rose says, “Compassion added days to my life and enabled me to have a home for my children. They have stood by me, comforted me, and given me spiritual and moral support. I can only pray a blessing to the entire family of Compassion.”

Rose, who once slept in a cold market stall with no hope other than death, is now able to provide for her family, bring jobs to her community, and a message of hope to all she encounters.

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Nineteen-year-old Andrew grew up knowing many sorrows. Neither of his parents were there for him. He saw his father beat and throw insults at his mother in a drunken stupor. He watched his mother withdraw and disappear from their home for days on end, leaving him and his younger sister Rose on their own.

“Sometimes both Dad and Mom would go away and leave us alone, so we would go to the street to beg friends for food. After getting food we would go to our grandparents’ home. But when Dad didn’t find us home, he’d beat Mom and demand for us so she always took us back.”

Going home was the most painful thing for Andrew and Rose. They hated the violence. Andrew soon got fed up and went to live with his grandparents. But Rose stayed at home.

They believed that their mother often went to work in distant places, but the children learned that she was having an affair.

In 1997, Andrew’s father died of AIDS. His mother had just given birth to a baby girl who was HIV-positive, but his mother was not aware of because she did not know that she was HIV-positive. The family was living in a rented house at the time and hardly had money for survival.

Andrew’s mom earned very little from selling secondhand clothes. His father had been a mechanic who had spent most of his hard-earned money in bars.

A ray of hope shined on them a year later when the church near their home began a partnership with Compassion. Luckily for Andrew, his mother took him to the church and he was registered. This changed his life.

He learned that God had a big plan for his life and many other life-changing lessons. For example, he used to bathe once a week until he learned the importance of bathing. The center staff also gave him soap and vaseline, which he never had at home.

More importantly, they gave him love and helped him see his potential. The center staff helped him discover and develop his talent in art. Their influence paid off, and today Andrew has a small business making and selling sculptures.

“The child development center has helped me to have a positive attitude towards work. I didn’t only study fine art but also learned to use it to get income. For example, during holidays, I make artistic designs on wood. I started this business in 2007 when we had little income at home.”

One sculpture goes for about $1.30. Andrew also learned how to use a computer and as such earns income typing work for university students.

Since Andrew’s father passed on, his mother had not checked her HIV status. One day staff from the church’s Child Survival Program organized HIV/AIDS sensitization training for caregivers and encouraged them to learn their status.

Andrew’s mother went for the test and, alas, she had the disease. When she tested her last born, the child was also HIV- positive.

The situation back home was difficult. The mother did not have enough money to look after the family. Consequently, she left home to stay with the man with whom she had an affair. She sent both her daughters to stay with their father’s family, a decision Andrew was against because those relatives were not supportive.

Shortly afterward, Andrew’s mother came home. Her health had deteriorated. Andrew pleaded with her to let his sister come back from their father’s family home. Sadly, by the time his mother agreed to this, Rose was pregnant and said she had been raped!

Andrew’s mother developed low blood pressure. Andrew turned to the center staff, who had now become his friends. They helped take his mother to hospital, where she stayed until she passed away in October 2009.

“I felt overwhelmed and went and talked to the staff at the center, and they assured me that they would stand by me.

“They started giving my pregnant sister nutritional foods like eggs and milk. They also gave our youngest sister supplementary foods. I knew I was not alone in this.”

Rose later gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Andrew has become compassionate to others.

“In my culture, if the man doesn’t bring dowry to the woman’s parents, the children don’t count. But the way the center staff and my grandparents have treated me made me want to be compassionate.”

Andrew is now looking ahead with hope. His dream is to become a lawyer so that he can help the poor. Having given his life to Christ on his 12th birthday, he is passionate about the Lord and also wants to start a Christian foundation to help children realize their potential.

He also hopes to revive an abstinence club, which he is part of but which has been on the decline. He believes that one day he is going to make a better father and husband than his father ever was.

Compassion has changed his life and he is very grateful for all the love, care and support he has received.

“Sponsors have had a great impact into our lives and have supported us in many ways. Really, we could have died. I urge them not to feel tired when they are helping us. I know that God will bless them. I’d like to give the sponsors this verse — Lamentations 3:22-24. It inspires me a lot.”

Andrew grins as he looks into the distance, as if peering into a brilliant future that is his for the taking.

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Despite the Ethiopian government’s efforts to eradicate bridal abduction, it’s still frequently practiced in some rural areas. Bridal abduction has been illegal since 2005, but outside of the capital, the law is interpreted very loosely by the police and judges. Hence, girls as young as 11 years old are abducted and are given in marriage to men much older than them.

According to a study by UNICEF, marriage by abduction has many adverse effects on the girls and their communities, including perpetuating poverty, violating the human rights of the girls, causing permanent damage to their developing bodies, encouraging the transmission of HIV, and forcing girls to drop out of school.

Mulu, a 25-year-old mother of one, was abducted by her husband as she was going to visit her parents in the rural village. He had just lost his first wife and his child, and he decided to marry again.

Once Mulu was abducted, her family had no choice but to agree to the marriage, thinking that it would be a disgrace for the family if they didn’t. The majority of the girls are raped when they are abducted. Once the girl is abducted, the parents of the man send elders to the girl’s parents to ask for their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Many of the parents agree to the marriage because they fear that their daughter won’t be able find a husband after the incident is heard in the community, and that the abductor won’t return their daughter if they refuse him.

Cursing her luck, Mulu complied with the wishes of her parents to stay with her abductor and she started life as his wife. As is the custom, she asked no questions about her husband’s past life and accepted only the bits of information he provided.

“Even though it took me a long time to accept my fate, I tried to make the best out of the situation I was in. I started working as a daily laborer and took care of the house to the best of my ability. I just wanted to make my parents proud of me.”

Shortly after they started living as husband and wife, Mulu started to notice her husband’s unstable mental condition, deteriorating health and uncontrollable addiction to alcohol and chat — an herb with a narcotic effect. She became the sole provider of the household as her husband’s condition worsened.

While she was struggling to support her husband, she was also expecting her first-born. As with most of the women in her village, she was unaware of antenatal care or the importance of health checkup.s Mulu gave birth to a baby boy at home assisted by her neighbors. The baby passed away within a week.

“My whole world went dark with the death of my baby. Some said he had pneumonia and some said it was an evil spirit. I never knew the exact reason because I wasn’t able to take him to the health center.”

Soon after the death of her baby, Mulu became pregnant again. Even though the unanswered question of why she lost her first-born lingered at the back of her mind, she hoped for the best.

This time, not wanting to take a chance, she went to deliver her baby at the hospital. She was happy to return home with her baby girl.

“I counted the days, and when she became 1 week old I celebrated. Then the second week passed and I was sure everything would be OK. But the third week she started to get ill, and I lost my baby when she was 1 month old.”

Heartbroken with the loss of her children, Mulu decided to never try to have children again. She went back to her old life — working hard to support her sick husband.

“The day I knew I was pregnant again, I wanted to end my life. I didn’t want to go through another pain of burying my baby. I cursed my husband and most of all my fate.”

Even though she wanted to terminate the pregnancy, the little hope she felt inside wouldn’t let her do it.

One morning as Mulu was having coffee with her neighbors, she heard them talk about an organization that was registering babies and their mothers. What one of the ladies said caught her attention: They were registering pregnant mothers.

Mulu went to the church compound. Soon after that, she joined Compassion’s Child Survival Program. She was six months pregnant.

“I was startled to hear Mulu’s story while I was taking her history. I immediately arranged for her to go to the health center the next day and start her antenatal care. I also wanted her to get a full medical checkup because I wanted to find out why she lost her two babies.

“The next day I met her, I tried to assess what she knew about HIV/AIDS and counseled her before we went to the health center. The result was as I suspected. Mulu was found to be HIV-positive,” says Zenebech, the Child Survival Program Coordinator at the center.

For a woman who didn’t know much about the virus, the result came as a shock.

“What I heard drained the little hope I had. I couldn’t understand why my life was in such disarray.

“I hung on to every single word Zene was saying about how I can get through this. But when she told me that I can give birth to a healthy baby, I jumped up with joy. All my grief disappeared on that moment.”

Mulu was immediately started on antiretroviral therapy, and frequent antenatal care at the hospital was arranged for her. Both the physical and emotional support she received through the Child Survival Program gave her a sense of security.

Three months after she joined the program, Mulu gave birth at the hospital assisted by medical doctors who took the necessary precautions to prevent the transmission of the virus to the infant.

“I cried tears of joy when they handed me my baby girl. She tested negative for the virus, and I praised God for His gift. Had it not been for the care of the program staff, my baby would have been dead like the first two.”

The program’s intervention for Mulu didn’t stop at saving her baby’s life, but also gave her a fresh beginning filled with hope. The training she received through the program on health, hygiene and parenting has helped her change her lifestyle and care for her baby in a better way.

She was also soon given an opportunity to get involved in an income-generating activity. She was given some money, which she used to buy a bed, mattress, kitchen utensils, and to start a business.

She attended intensive training on starting a small business. She chose to sell corn and has been making a good profit. During the rainy season, she buys corn for about $3 and makes a $3 profit at the end of the day. From the $3, she saves 25 cents and uses the rest for her family.

During the dry season, she sells sweet potatoes and makes about $2.50 per day.

“More than the support I get, I value the Bible lessons and the fellowship I have at the center. My old confidence has come back and I am very content with the life I am leading now. Even though my husband still bothers me and is unhealthy, I have put my hope on the Lord, who has sustained me so far.

“The joy I feel when I see my girl is indescribable. I have stopped complaining about the turn of events in my life and have started appreciating the little blessings that come my way each day.

“The Child Survival Program has played the greatest of roles in my life. I am here today because of it and my baby is alive because of it. I have so much hope for the future and I rest assured that the program is there for me as well as my baby no matter what.”

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It was broad daylight when the silence of a village in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, was broken by the screaming of women, crying for help to save a mother’s life. The woman was attacked by her own neighbor with a piece of iron, over a dispute about a man.

For these women, whose livelihood depends on the income they make as prostitutes, this kind of conflict is nothing new. But that day it ended with one women dying and the other going to jail for life.

In the middle of it all, a 6-year-old girl along with her three siblings lost her mother. Yordanos was left with no one to care for her; orphaned, as she knew nothing about her father.

Immediately after her mother’s death, when her sisters went to the streets, Yordanos was taken in by an old lady in the neighborhood. For the young mind of Yordanos, it was difficult to grasp why her life suddenly turned upside down. It was something she never fully understood.

However, when the old lady whom she started calling grandmother began to care for her as one on her own children, Yordanos gradually came out of her shell.

A few years passed with Yordanos pursuing her elementary education and grew into a beautiful teenager. Life was good under the care of her new grandmother, until her grandmother’s son, who ran their motel business, died suddenly. One day, when Yordanos came back from school, her grandmother gave her an order to run the motel after school.

Yordanos’s new task involved collecting money from customers who rent a room for the night, staying up until midnight to lock up, and calculating the day’s earning. Yordanos, at an age where she should be spending more time with her friends studying and playing, became exposed to a life which no child should ever be exposed to. Most of the customers were the local prostitutes and their clients.

“I used to rent rooms for all kinds of people: people who were drunk, people who were drugged and old people who came to cheat on their wives. I used to see my friends play, and I envied them.

“Forget my schooling; it was hopeless as I had no time to study. Moreover, my grandmother started mistreating me. She would beat me if I refused to wait on customers for one night.

“Because I used to work without eating, I started to steal from my grandmother.”

Destu was born from a father who spent most of his life in and out of prison and from a mother whose livelihood depended on prostitution. Destu and her little brother grew up witnessing violence between their parents when their father was out of prison.

In addition, the daily misery of poverty was unbearable. Their mother’s meager income was mostly spent on “Chat” — a local herb with a drugging effect.

“I know little about my father because he spent most of his life in prison. The few times I have seen him I remember him not as a good father who is interested in his children but as a person who abused our mother. You know, my mother, even though she has her own shortcomings, cared so much for us. She loved us and protected us from so many things.”

The dreadful life Destu and her brother led became more painful when their mother was diagnosed with AIDS.

“I never expected that to happen. I guess I was too young to expect it. My mother was a good person and didn’t deserve this, but it happened. Shortly after my mother was diagnosed with AIDS, our father also went and checked his status. He was also found HIV-positive.”

Destu and her brother lost their parents and were left under the care of their aunt, who was also a prostitute. Destu assumed the responsibility of raising her brother and managing the house since their aunt was never at home to care for them. Destu was burdened by too many responsibilities that were putting pressure on her education.

“I was unable to study with an empty stomach. I had to care for my little brother, which involved finding ways to feed him. It was all too much for me.”

Four years ago, Compassion began a pilot program called Highly Vulnerable Children (HVC) in Ethiopia in hopes of giving a loving home to children like Destu and Yordanos so that they could grow up and realize their dreams. About 35 children are now receiving family care and support in the six cottages established through the program.

These children are given love and care from their foster parents, and traumatized children receive counseling as well. Their basic needs are fulfilled, and their foster parents also follow up with their education and spiritual life.

The Dire Dawa Vision Cottage is one of the cottages that support nine children who needed immediate intervention. Mr. Girma and his wife, Mrs. Etifwork, have two children of their own. They have lived most of their lives in Dire Dawa town. Their exemplary Christian life and their heart for orphaned children were the reasons the church approached them with the offer for the opportunity to be foster parents to these children.

“God has given me and my wife a calling which is to help the fatherless. When the church came to us with this offer, we didn’t hesitate to take these children in. Of course, we prayed about it but we knew that this was God’s calling for us.”

Yordanos and Destu are among the nine children taken in by Mr. Girma’s family who have shown significant change in their holistic development.

After Yordanos started living with her foster parents, she finally had the chance to grow like a child. She played with her peers and began to pay attention in school. The child who was always failing in her grades became a rank student within a year. She accepted Jesus and put her past, which influenced her behavior, behind her.

Today, Yordanos is a different person. She is a devoted Christian and a great student with a clear purpose for her life.

“God gave me this family because He loved me and wanted to use me for His glory. Had it not been for the HVC program, I would have ended up like my sisters — in the streets with illegitimate children. Now I can be whatever I want to be and I am determined to make my dream of becoming a medical doctor a reality with the help of God.”

As for Destu, life took a total turn for the better and her constant worry about taking care of her brother was put to rest when she joined the foster family along with her brother. She immediately began to excel in school with the close follow-up of her foster parents. Her grief was gradually replaced with happiness as their caregivers gave her the love and attention she lacked.

“I was emotionally scarred and was very afraid of my future as well as my brother’s future. I was sure that we would be thrown in the streets when my aunt who was also HIV-positive dies. No one really cared about us. It’s a miracle that I’m even in this kind of environment where people give me love and attention. I feel so emotional because I have been telling myself that I don’t mean anything to anyone. But that’s different now. Thanks to Compassion, I have found people who care about what I eat, what I wear, where I go, what I would be when I grow up, and they support me.”

Each child’s who lives at the cottage has a different story, but they all have something in common: They were neglected and abandoned with no one to care for them. But now, life is bright and full of hope for great opportunities that await them.

We acknowledge that all children in our programs are vulnerable and face a certain degree of risk, but some registered children face much greater risks than others.

Thus, the “highly vulnerable children” in our programs are the registered children who are at greatest risk of physical, psychological or social harm relative to the other registered children in the program.

Read more about how we help highly vulnerable children. Make a donation to help highly vulnerable children.

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“You have been tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the micro-organism that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).”

When the doctor announced the results, a mood of gloom and despair descended on Zainabu. She did not know where to go or what to do.

“It seemed like my life and the livelihood of my children had been cut, since they all depended on me.”

Looking for a shoulder to cry on, Zainabu wondered whom to inform or talk to. Her family and the community had no place for HIV-positive people. “I am an abomination,” Zainabu thought to herself.

Zainabu has had a difficult life. Harsh living conditions and extreme poverty left her trying to sell fried cassava and sometimes exchanging sex for money to support her family. This is how she contracted HIV, all in the name of providing for her young family.

Sadly, Zainabu’s story is not an uncommon one in Kenya. The prevalence of HIV among Kenyans ages 15-64 is 7.1 percent, which means about 1.4 million people live with HIV (Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation – Kenya World AIDS Day Address,  Dec. 1, 2009).

When Zainabu learned she was HIV-positive, she stayed in denial for some time. She came to grips with her situation when Compassion child development center staff members visited her home during their routine home visits and noticed her ill health. She then had the opportunity to disclose her HIV status.

The staff came to her help and encouraged her to think about life, and began to help her develop goals for living positively. It was during this period that she was given access to health facilities and connected to a doctor who advised her to join support groups and disclose her status.

“After long soul searching and prayer, I joined a local support group and disclosed my status publicly. After disclosing my status, I felt relieved. It was the best medicine for my disease. A new sense of hope arose in my spirit. A dawn of a better future emerged with high determination and commitment to face the disease head on. My anguish and fear were all gone, I could now break the silence, all because Compassion cared for me through the church and the access to health facilities.”

Zainabu joined Jipe Moyo Support Group, an initiative supported by the child development center which educates its members on HIV and AIDS. It also empowers family and community members with knowledge of long-term support and care, and raises acceptability of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) by family and community for stigma reduction. Jipe Moyo in Swahili means “take heart, take courage”

As a leader in the group, Zainabu has been very resourceful in the startup of a unique approach to helping PLWHAS. Through community education and meetings, she has helped ensure that other members of the community protect and give support to PLWHAS.

Zainabu’s CD4 count has improved significantly, and she has discovered hope and inspires hope in others suffering from the same condition. She now earns her living as a counselor helping other women and families to protect themselves against HIV and AIDS. She also has a small-scale business selling planting seeds and cereals.

Zainabu thanks the pastor and Compassion for allowing her to be the beneficiary of a revolving loan fund, where she got Kshs 5,000 to start the business.

“Since I joined Jipe Moyo Support group, I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience on new strategies for education on HIV/AIDS and therapeutic nutrition for People Living With HIV/AIDS. I have also acquired a lot of spiritual, psychological, emotional and economic support from the group.”

Zainabu admits that she has sometimes wondered whether proclaiming her status has put her at risk of ridicule and discrimination. However, she takes it in stride and still commits herself to protecting children and caregivers against HIV and AIDS in the center. And she says that her experience with HIV has increased her faith in God.

“I was running a race moving full speed, when suddenly, Wham! I hit a wall of HIV/AIDS. I was tempted to quit, turn back in defeat, perhaps fall down and die. But I didn’t.

“I have learned a lifelong lesson that when you feel the worst, when failure is breathing down your neck, look up and reach out to hope as never before. Believe in God and like dawn in the morning, light will come pouring in. You will see a breakthrough by breaking the silence. All you have to do to speak the Word is to have faith in the Word of God and in your God-given potentials.

“Breaking the silence and disclosing one’s status is the greatest challenge. I am not going to tell you it’s easy. The truth is, it is tough. Nevertheless, pushing on through the tough times is inevitable if one is to have a breakthrough.

“Once that happens, you will never be the same. You only need to take a step of courage and break the silence to make a never dying, never-quitting champion out of you.”

In her situation, through the assistance of church staff, Zainabu has brought light to the community. The development center offers free medical camp and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services. It also invites people in the community who are HIV-positive and are happy to speak to encourage others about their status.

Staff members raise awareness about the need for antiretroviral therapy medicines for people with HIV, raise awareness about the need to accept people with HIV or AIDS, and raise support for children whose family members have HIV- or AIDS-related illnesses.

Zainabu also encouraged her mother to go for a test, and she turned out to be HIV-positive.

“As a family, we have committed ourselves to helping other people. Our advice: Eat good food, be faithful in your marriage, go to hospital immediately when you have an infection, plan your family, keep your mind on good thoughts, and share your problems – do not hide them. I can now work hard and focus on my health and that of my family.

“I am determined to see all my children finish school, go to university and even get married. I am determined to make the most of my new life. HIV should not stop anyone from achieving his/her goals in life.”

Zainabu was able to avoid transmitting HIV to her youngest daughter during childbirth. Zainabu is a happy mother because the baby was HIV-negative.

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