Bongani stared at the children playing together, wishing and hoping that he could join. He ran home and grabbed his mom by the hand pulled her with him to the little school down the road and showed her the fun. No, Bongani can’t join the fun, his mommy doesn’t have the R350 school fees. Slowly he turned away, tears falling silently down his cheeks, his little tummy rumbling, sore from the lack of food.
Bongani didn’t know that Nonto, Siyamdumisa’s Day Care Principal is desperately phoning Sara Brown from Project Hope. “Sara, there is a little boy, skinny, too skinny. Hungry. Desperate. Do we have a bursary for him? Can he come?” Yes! Project Hope has a bursary left, Bongani can come!
And the journey with Bongani started. It was soon discovered that Bongani couldn’t concentrate very well, was behind developmentally, struggled to play with the other children and was suffering from epilepsy. Every day, one step at a time, Bongani was given food and love. Every day, one step at a time, Bongani started growing, starting developing, started flourishing. But still there were concerns, still Bongani had developmental and emotional problems, still the little boy was hungry – there is no food at home.
But Bongani has learnt, on the weekends he pops over to Nonto’s house and she feeds him together with her own family. When he walks home every day, he holds his mother’s hand in one hand and an opened future life bar in the other – dinner, eaten on the way home. Every day he receives 2 meals at school, with a little extra protein added by the school’s caring teachers. Every day he is stronger, he is catching up and laughing more.
Today, Bongani is a gorgeous, chubby child who runs and plays with his friends. He has caught up developmentally and his epilepsy… well, it seems the epilepsy, together with all the other developmental and emotional problems was caused by malnutrition. How special it is to see him run and play with his friends, how special it is to see him laugh. Bongani has a future, he has been given Hope.
- Name has been changed to protect identity
