Mwayi and His Family

Snoden is introducing Mwayi to you. He’s seven years old and a member of our feeding program and Kindergarten. His father died two years ago, and now his mother is terminally ill. He’s one of eight children. Mwayi has a quickly developing skin condition that you can clearly see in this video. We want to address that immediately, and two hundred dollars, the amount of money Snoden is asking for, should cover a trip to the hospital and a visit to a doctor. It may even cover his medication or a small procedure. However, as you may have deduced from the situation, we’re going to need more.

Friends and neighbors are helping the family while their mother is sick, but when she dies, the children will be orphans. As much as we want to take in all eight of them when that happens, we can’t. Not only is it probably best that family take care of family, but the government encourages it. The closest relatives will be responsible for them, whether they want to or not, and we would like to help lighten that burden—especially since sometimes these “unwanted burdens” are targets for abuse. Eight more children without more income can be devastating, so we want to be sure that wherever they go, there is enough money to provide for them.

This family is under an unbelievable amount of stress with their father gone and their mother as sick as she is. We will get Mwayi to the doctor even before you help us pay for that. It’s obviously urgent and cannot wait. But we’ll need your help to provide for these kids during the most difficult time of their lives. We would like to try to keep them together, but nobody in the village will be able to afford them all, and it’s likely they’ll be separated and possibly shipped to relatives far away from each other. We pray Mwayi will stay close and continue his education with us. It’s not up to us who they’ll live with, but we can offer to help pay for their food, clothes, and medical care until we’re no longer needed for that. Snoden is asking for two hundred dollars, but after learning more about this family, we realize this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is one of the situations we dread the most in our ministry. It’s out of our hands and seems hopeless, but we know it never is. God is fully capable of making something beautiful out of this tragic situation. Please pray for Mwayi and his family, and give whatever God puts on your heart. We’ll do our best to discreetly provide for them and keep them together while they lose their mother and make the transition so many village children make every year to orphan status. We’ll continue to be as involved as possible and to keep you informed about their lives as much as we’re permitted. Thank you for your love and generosity!

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HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

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