“This wheelchair is my answered prayer!”
It’s 1pm in Lalogi-Lakwana, northern Uganda, and the sun is beaming down on 15-year-old Melisa. She laughs with her friends Joy and Patricia as they wheel her home from school.
For Melisa, this is a dream come true. For years, she could only watch other children go to school, and her heart ached to join them.
At the age of 5, Melisa contracted a strange disease. Her mother turned to local traditional healers, but Melisa grew weaker with each day.
By the time she was rushed to the hospital, Melisa couldn’t sit or stand. She was suffering from acute malaria and if left untreated, the effects are irreversible.
Her mother was so traumatised that she left Melisa in the care of her grandmother Adong. Melisa never saw her mother again.
Many people in Melisa’s community believed a child with a disability was cursed by God or was some kind of bad omen.
“I was left to figure out how to care and provide for my granddaughter,” says Adong, who was only just making ends meet. “With Melisa’s disability, I didn’t know what to do or where to start. I thought about abandoning her too, but my pastor encouraged me not to.
“I depend on farming to earn a living. Every time I had to go to the farm, I had to carry Melisa along.
“I used to feel a lot of back pain after walking long distances carrying her on my back. But I had no alternative,” says Adong.
Life has been hard for Melisa too. She cried whenever she saw other children playing because she couldn’t move or play with them.
On school days, she would crawl to the front door and watch other children walking to school. And she’d be there in the afternoon too, watching them return home in their school uniforms with schoolbooks under their arms, longing to join them.
Melisa’s not alone. There are 2.5 million girls and boys living with disabilities in Uganda, and according to the World Bank, more than half of them won’t get the chance to go to school.
But loving child sponsors are helping to change that!
Melisa playing with her friends Joy (left) and Patricia (right)
When you sponsor a child, you help end disadvantage and open up a world of access and opportunity for all children in the community, including disabled children.
The generosity of child sponsors is helping to break down stigma, provide assistive devices, support families, and make sure children like Melisa get the chance to go to school.
In Melisa’s community, 370 girls and boys with disability are now getting safe, quality education.
“My prayer has always been to play with other children and experience the joy of being in school like other children,” says Melisa.
Thanks to the love and care of sponsors like you, Melisa’s prayer has been answered!
“For years, I wasn’t able to take Melisa to the regional referral hospital, simply because I couldn’t afford it,” says Adong.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes the day people from World Vision brought doctors from the hospital to treat my little girl and later brought her a wheelchair.
“It was nothing short of a miracle.”
“This wheelchair is my answered prayer!” says Melisa.
Melisa with her grandmother Adong.
At her local primary school, child sponsors helped set up classroom ramps and build toilets with disability access. You’re breaking down barriers that stop kids like Melisa from going to school and learning to read and write like other children.
Thank to generous child sponsors, Melisa’s wheelchair is giving her the freedom and independence to enjoy a childhood she almost missed out on.
It’s filled her with hope that she will one day be the teacher she always dreamed of becoming.
Learn more about how you can help break down barriers for children like Melisa so she can become all she was meant to be.
For Melisa, this is a dream come true. For years, she could only watch other children go to school, and her heart ached to join them.
At the age of 5, Melisa contracted a strange disease. Her mother turned to local traditional healers, but Melisa grew weaker with each day.
By the time she was rushed to the hospital, Melisa couldn’t sit or stand. She was suffering from acute malaria and if left untreated, the effects are irreversible.
Her mother was so traumatised that she left Melisa in the care of her grandmother Adong. Melisa never saw her mother again.
Many people in Melisa’s community believed a child with a disability was cursed by God or was some kind of bad omen.
“I was left to figure out how to care and provide for my granddaughter,” says Adong, who was only just making ends meet. “With Melisa’s disability, I didn’t know what to do or where to start. I thought about abandoning her too, but my pastor encouraged me not to.
“I depend on farming to earn a living. Every time I had to go to the farm, I had to carry Melisa along.
“I used to feel a lot of back pain after walking long distances carrying her on my back. But I had no alternative,” says Adong.
Life has been hard for Melisa too. She cried whenever she saw other children playing because she couldn’t move or play with them.
On school days, she would crawl to the front door and watch other children walking to school. And she’d be there in the afternoon too, watching them return home in their school uniforms with schoolbooks under their arms, longing to join them.
Melisa’s not alone. There are 2.5 million girls and boys living with disabilities in Uganda, and according to the World Bank, more than half of them won’t get the chance to go to school.
But loving child sponsors are helping to change that!
Melisa playing with her friends Joy (left) and Patricia (right)
When you sponsor a child, you help end disadvantage and open up a world of access and opportunity for all children in the community, including disabled children.
The generosity of child sponsors is helping to break down stigma, provide assistive devices, support families, and make sure children like Melisa get the chance to go to school.
In Melisa’s community, 370 girls and boys with disability are now getting safe, quality education.
“My prayer has always been to play with other children and experience the joy of being in school like other children,” says Melisa.
Thanks to the love and care of sponsors like you, Melisa’s prayer has been answered!
“For years, I wasn’t able to take Melisa to the regional referral hospital, simply because I couldn’t afford it,” says Adong.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes the day people from World Vision brought doctors from the hospital to treat my little girl and later brought her a wheelchair.
“It was nothing short of a miracle.”
“This wheelchair is my answered prayer!” says Melisa.
Melisa with her grandmother Adong.
At her local primary school, child sponsors helped set up classroom ramps and build toilets with disability access. You’re breaking down barriers that stop kids like Melisa from going to school and learning to read and write like other children.
Thank to generous child sponsors, Melisa’s wheelchair is giving her the freedom and independence to enjoy a childhood she almost missed out on.
It’s filled her with hope that she will one day be the teacher she always dreamed of becoming.
Learn more about how you can help break down barriers for children like Melisa so she can become all she was meant to be.