The Story of Eddah Busolo
Eddah Busolo came into Kakamega’s Home-based Sponsorship Program in 2007. Her father had died in 2004 and her mother was very sick with AIDS. Through the Sponsorship Program, Eddah was able to return to school. Although 14 years old, she entered 5th grade as she had lost 4 years of schooling due to lack of money for school fees. But, that is only part of her story.
When I first met Eddah in 2008, she was a girl without a smile. This 15 year old was not only doing all the cooking and cleaning at home, but she was caring for 4 younger siblings while attending school and doing homework. Perhaps the greatest weight on her young shoulders was caring for her mother. Dying from AIDS is a very hard passage. Eddah’s mother passed away last year.
To purchase food, Eddah and her family had only the little money leftover from her sponsorship after all school fees are paid plus any goodwill offerings from people at her church. Often Eddah and her siblings would go without anything to eat. On hearing this, Eddah’s sponsors, Cecile and Chip, graciously doubled their sponsorship to allow more money for food.
Last summer we visited Eddah at her home. This is Eddah, all smiles as she motioned for us to join her and her family at their home.
Eddah proudly showed us their home: a living room not much bigger than a closet with a lonely one-foot high table where Eddah does her homework, a kitchen with dirt floor and a few stones with pots and utensils, a bedroom not much bigger than the bed which all the children share.
The tin roof had many holes where rain comes through, including a sizeable hole above her kitchen. During the rainy season, which happens four months of the year, there is a downpour almost daily . When this happens they huddle in the corners to stay dry. No electricity. No windows. And certainly no t v.
Through the Friends of Kakamega Self-Help Program, Eddah and her family were able to plant maize for the first time. They did all the planting, cultivating and harvesting themselves. They were very proud of their harvest which was spread to dry in the yard near her father’s grave.
Eddah is a very different girl from the one I first met. She is now cheerful, works very hard at school, and hopes some day to become a nurse. When we left Eddah, who had touched our hearts , she was given a chicken, some eggs, avocados, bananas, a backpack and clothes for everyone in the family. She could not stop laughing and grinning.
Eddah’s strong faith and her ability to rise above poverty and incredible difficulties stunned us. The life changing catalyst that the sponsorship and the Kakamega Program provide is wonderful.
Update:
Through the Kakamega Orphan project, a new house is being built for Eddah and her family.
Allen's Neck Meeting has sponsored two students at the Kakamega Orphan Project.
Eddah and Siblings