“I am proud to be a change maker!”

To understand the impact of Hannah’s words, you have to know where she came from.

As a child, Hannah lived with her grandparents in a village in Uganda. Their most basic needs—food, education, clothes, and proper medical care—were out of reach for their family. Her grandfather owned a small garden where he grew beans, cassava (a starchy root vegetable), and greens, but they only had enough food for one meal a day.

Hannah’s life in the village became so hard that she was brought to town to work as a babysitter. Working meant she was no longer able to go to school.

“It was really a tough journey in there because I could babysit all day long while the children of my age in that home would wake up to go to school. I’d wake up, and the next thing I knew, there would be a baby on my back as the mother of the home got her children ready for school. It was a very painful scene for me at that time . . . I felt my future was shuttered and nothing good would come my way.”

But life started to change for Hannah when she joined Children of the Nations at about nine years old.

She no longer had to stand by and watch while other children went to school. She was able to return to class and start working toward a better future.

Hannah remembers that when she first started school again, she still felt weak physically and mentally. She felt she was behind the other students. “But after Children of the Nations gave me food, I became healthy and strong and therefore started performing well in my academics,” says Hannah.

This year, Hannah achieved something amazing and rare for her community: she graduated from university with a degree in public administration and management.

She says, “I want to make great impacts in my community by supporting in my capacity those struggling with the same challenges I experienced . . . I am proud to be a change maker!” 

 

As a child living in poverty, Hannah had little hope her future could ever be better. But with the nutritious meals and education you provided her, Hannah has the power to create a better future not only for herself but her community. 

From a childhood in poverty to a change maker, Hannah’s story is just beginning.

P.S. To empower other children like Hannah with education, give today to our education fund. Transformation starts with changing lives, one child at a time.

 

By Kelly Flannery, Marketing Writer at Children of the Nations