This orphan living with HIV just wants to study
I talked to my mom and we offered this little girl an opportunity to continue learning.
George who stays in Zombo district has a very inspirational story to tell. At a time when many could have chosen to hold onto the little they had, his mother opened their doors to a little orphan girl with a big dream. Verbatim he said:
A young girl in my neighborhood about 12 years old living with HIV/AIDS in P.4 shared with me her love for education and her frustration with the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Japonji, Gen para mi doku Nurse dong ube jwik, acopu somu ungo nikum radio upe yofua, ke konya Doo japonji....."
She lamented the first time we met, while tears rolled down her cheek. She lamented that her dreams of becoming a nurse in the future are slowly fading because she can't access any radios to learn during this pandemic and cried out to me to help her out.
This was so touching to me. I reflected on the number of children in her situation, children with so much passion but whose dreams are being shattered by this pandemic. Some are probably going to drop out of school when this is all over while others are going to lose out on their dreams. I thought I should do something to help her out. There are a lot of children of this kind in our communities - hopeless and frustrated yet with so much love for education and they have dreams too. Let's not let their hopes fade away.
I talked to my mom and we offered this little girl an opportunity to continue learning. She now stays at home with my mum, every morning and afternoon she listens to education lessons on TV. I help her to study and help her learn to speak English. My Mom, who is a nurse, is also helping to monitor the little girl’s health. She ensures that the ‘nurse to be’ takes her ARVs as prescribed and I am sure she will be fine and live to see her dreams come true one day.
It gives me great joy to see that the little girl’s smile has been restored and her hopes and dreams have been reawakened.
If we all continue to do the right things in small ways, right where we are, we can make a big difference.
By CivSource Africa Team