Alex (not his real name), aged 13 years, was born to Apollo, now deceased, and Kyomuhendo Glorious of Bukora village, Kabale district. Alex was born HIV+ and soon after his birth his parents separated, with Alex going to be with his father. After the father died Alex’s paternal uncles chased him away and told him to go to his mother. At that time he was in primary two class. A Good Samaritan took Alex to his mother but that was the end of his school life.
When Alex first came to Amasiko he was clearly traumatised by the conditions and the people around him at home. He isolated himself from the rest of the children at Amasiko and would not join in their play. He was hungry all the time, the only meal he got was at Amasiko, and this one meal was insufficient to sustain him while on ARVS.
His mother, who has no income, has two sons, Alex, and an elder brother, who is HIV-. She has decided that she is unable to support both children, indeed she is hardly in a position to support one, and so she has elected to support the elder son, taking the view that he is more likely to survive into adulthood. This decision has led to her completely rejecting Alex, abusing him verbally and physically with beatings and severe bites.
AAU staff intervened after getting information that his mother was planning to take him to an unknown place and abandon him to die. After receiving this information we invited his mother to the project and she frankly testified the same.
Alex was in imminent danger of losing his life and urgent action was required, so yesterday we took him to Amazing Love School where he has been enrolled as a boarder; providing him with a safe and secure place to live. We do not have a sponsor for him, but his situation was so dire that we could not wait. When told he was going to school he smiled for the first time since we met him.
No mother should ever feel that she has to make a choice of which of her children should survive, and no child should ever have to feel as abandoned and rejected as Alex was.
If you are able to sponsor Alex, or any other of the children whom we have taken in from the street, please get in touch or click here to sponsor a child online.
If you would like to help us in our work, either in the UK or Uganda, please write to us at enquiries@alongsideafrica.org.
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