Rejected
Imagine the pressure of trying to prove yourself over and over for something completely out of your control, something you must do in order to survive to the next day. In rural Uganda producing children, specifically sons, is often what defines women. If a woman cannot have children or if she only bears girls, she most likely will face rejection, abuse, and abandonment.
"You are worthless," they said to her walking away and leaving her to care for her girls. Five of them thought she was responsible for the gender of the children they produced, failing to recognize they themselves created that gender. Five different men abandoned her and their collective ten daughters, leaving them to fend for themselves. Now, one child has passed away, and the three oldest daughters left their mother to seek whatever means necessary to care for themselves.
What happens, then, in the mind of these girls as they grow up knowing their fathers did not value them enough to stay with their mother? How can they learn in the depths of their souls that God created them, loves them and will never forsake them as a perfect Father?
Today, this woman and her six daughters struggle to survive simply because they are the "wrong" gender. They all live in a tiny rented room, each girl with barely enough to make it through each day. They sometimes go a day without eating, most days with only one meal. She waits despairingly, hoping for an answer. She waits for even just one daughter to be sponsored, so that her girl can have a better future than this.
Sponsorship gives girls opportunities they may otherwise never have, growing up in a hostile world. They are allowed to excel in the best schools, allowed to dream about their futures, encouraged by Hope Africa Staff who love them like their own children, taught what it means to be loved by God as their Father, and challenged to lead others as they grow older. Why wouldn't we give them these opportunities to break this cycle of poverty and hurt?
UPDATE: Nine-year old Aisha is one of those six abandoned girls, who was waiting to be sponsored for over a year now. We rejoice that she was sponsored after we shared her story! What if now is the time for you to consider investing in a child's life? We have more children, who like Aisha, have been waiting for a year!