.LIFE WITH HOPE TESTIMONY:

Life With Hope is in the business of giving hope to people infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS virus. Various families have benefited from the hope extended to them through LWH. One such family is that of the late Christine Night Ayena.

In November 2007, the late Christine Night Ayena was seen lying on the grass outside Bombo Pentecostal Church, with three children looking equally burnt out lying next to her. They looked worn out, hungry, and desperate. We asked Ayena to tell us her story. She explained how her husband, on realizing that she was HIV positive, threw her and the children out of his house in Soroti, a town 5 hours drive away from Bombo. With hardly any money and nowhere to go, Ayena came to Bombo where her parents live. Her parents had nothing much to offer Ayena, except the little two roomed mud house they were willing to share with her.

LWH took Ayena and her children into their care. We rented them a house to live in, bought the family food and clothes, and ensured that Ayena got medication. We also encouraged her to put her faith and trust in God, which she willingly did. By the time we took Ayena for a blood count, the results showed that her CD4 count was way below average. Ayena didn’t make it. She passed on leaving behind her three children; 4 year old Bitendwa Ebarua, 6 year old Opolot, and 8 year old Christine.

We moved the children to their grandparents’ home nearer to the church. LWH pays tuition for Christine at her elementary school, and for Ebarua and Opolot at Donela preschool where they receive two meals a day. We also provide all of their school requirements, shoes, clothes, medication, and meet any other of their needs as they arise.

When the Ebarua and Opolot joined Donela, they were extremely quiet, reserved, and to themselves. They sat in one place refusing to interact with the other children. Ebarua would not let anyone other than her brother touch her. Slowly but surely, our skilled teachers penetrated through into the children’s hearts by showing them love, and giving them hugs and assurance. The transformation in these children is amazing. Ebarua runs for a hug whenever the pastor or her teachers come by. She has brightened up tremendously, put on weight, and is a joyful energetic little girl. Opolot too, is much more outgoing and full of life.

We visited the children’s home where their grandparents take care of them. Their sleeping conditions were very poor indeed. Thin torn dirty mattresses lay carelessly on the floor of the mud hut, with no beddings. LWH provided mats, mattresses, and beddings for the children. Their grandparents are alcoholic and this limits how much they can do to raise the children well. However, with LWH and Bombo Pentecostal Church’s children’s ministry, the Ebarua, Opolot, and Christine receive God’s love and are nourished spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

LWH is eternally grateful to partners that are standing with us to ensure that lives such as these children’s’ are given hope and a chance to experience the life Jesus Christ died to give them.

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