October’s story of the month takes us to South Sudan in East Africa – the world’s poorest country according the Global Finance Magazine and recently hit by fierce flooding. In this young country, Comfort International works with a small team of dedicated volunteers who run the Child Support programme, working with struggling families and street children to try to work towards a better life. Apiath has been on the project since 2020 when she was five years old. Apiath lived alone with her mother who struggled to find clothes for her to wear or medicine for when she was sick. They also often struggled to find food and Apiath frequently went to bed hungry. Apiath was on the road to life on the streets before she came onto the project with her family, and things began to change.
The change in Apiath was clear after just one year on the project
In 2021, Apiath and her family were already being blessed by life on the project. Apiath started her education in Primary 1 at Hosanna School, and was delighted to have her fees, uniform and books paid for. There were some awful rains at the time which destroyed her house, but the project was able to pay for her and her family to move to a new home. At that time she simply wrote to her sponsor, “Thank you for loving me!”
In 2022, Apiath continued to be delighted at her chance for education. She told us, “Life here is not easy as many children do not have food to eat and they have no chance to go to school because schools are expensive here […] The happiest thing is that I like school. I especially like reading.”
Apiath has continued to write to her dedicated sponsors as she has been growing up through the years. This year, she wrote:
“How are you doing? I am happy to write to you this letter. I was happy to see the teams of visitors that came to visit us here. We had time to play with them.
This year has been a very good year for me because I am part of the project. My mum and siblings are all doing well.
I am now studying at school and I am learning how to read and write. Being part of the project has helped me have access to food, clothes, shoes, school materials and also I am taken to the hospital when I fall sick.
I thank you so much for everything. Thank you for coming into my life.”
