Children with special needs receive a ray of hope for living life in all its fullness

It’s 1:00 Pm, and the sun is high up, beaming its scorching rays over 15-year-old Melisa as she is wheeled home by her friends; Joy and Patricia. 

The air is filled with the joyful laughter of the trio as they comb through the thick bushes, navigating their way from school to find a hot meal. What a way to end a school day! Born like any other child, Melisa contracted a strange disease at the age of five (5), unknown to her mother, this disease would shutter her little girl’s childhood.

For a while, her mother turned to the local village traditional healers who prescribed concoctions promising her daughter's healing, however, her little girl’s health dwindled by the day.

By the time she was rushed to the hospital, it was too late! Melisa could neither sit nor stand. This strange disease unknown to them was diagnosed as acute malaria! 

Haunted by this new reality, Melisa’s traumatised mother abandoned her daughter with her 61-year-old grandmother; Adong, and she has never been seen since that day.

“I was left to figure out life with my granddaughter, her disability was a strange thing and I didn’t know what to do or where to start,” says Adong, “I thought about abandoning her, but our pastor advised me not to,” she adds.

Adong was left to raise her granddaughter alone, at 61 years of age coupled with the meager income, this new addition was an extra burden to her.  “I depend on farming to earn a living, and every time I had to go to the farm, I would carry Melisa along.

Additionally, Melisa loved the church and hearing the choir sing. To accommodate her playful and prayerful lifestyle, Adong could carry her over 4 km to and fro. “I used to feel a lot of back pain after walking long distances with her on my back, but I had no alternative, " says Adong.

Whenever she saw other children playing, her inability to move and play with them always made her cry. During school days, she would rise early, crawl to the door post just to see other children walk to school, and wait to see them return donning their school uniforms and books clamped in their arms.

“My prayer has always been to play with other children and experience the joy of being in school like other children,” says Melisa “This wheelchair is my answered prayer!” She concludes.

The hope for a new possibility.

There are 2.5 million children with disabilities in Uganda, 3 out of every 10 of those are from northern Uganda where Melisa hails, and more than half will never live to sit in a classroom_ suggests a World Bank report.

World Vision’s Disability Inclusion Project in her community was an answer to Melisa’s long-time prayer, availing access to safe and quality education to over 370 children with disabilities in the two villages of Lalogi and Lakwana in northern Uganda.

“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 for her a wheelchair. It was nothing short of a miracle.” She adds.

Melisa has joined Lakwana Primary School near her home, where ramps and disability-inclusive sanitary facilities were installed so that she and other children like her can enjoy learning without any form of fear.

Local faith leaders within the village were also empowered to influence parents of children with disability in their congregation to embrace, love, protect, and care for their children through the Channels of Hope model.

“Many parents in our village perceive children with disability as a curse from God or some kind of bad omen,” says Patrick, one of the faith leaders empowered in his community, "Over the years, we have seen parents abandon children but this has changed when we started preaching against it in our churches," he concludes. 

The wheelchair does not only allow Melisa to enjoy a childhood that she almost missed out on, but the hope that she will one day be the teacher she has always dreamt of becoming.

Story and Photos by: Mungu Jakisa Brian | Communications  Officer | World Vision Uganda