by Billy McClung
A personal experience of discovering forgotten children.
You will have seen the story of Emmanuel. Today I share an account I wrote of the day we found Emmanuel and the other children on the dump in the summer of 2017, and what happened next.
When you hear that you’re going somewhere that ‘might be difficult’, you don’t really expect it to be ‘all that bad’. After all, it’s Rwanda, you’ve been there many times before. How hard can it be? It was bad! I don’t mind telling you!! We arrived at the location, just after 6am on 11 July 2017. It is a large landfill site in Rwanda. It was established in 2012 and receives up to 300 tonnes of rubbish each day. On our way to the site we noted pigs foraging about for food near to the houses where they were being reared.
They were being better looked after than the kids we were about to encounter! Some people are employed to sort out the waste, others eke a meagre living from finding stuff they can sell. Others, especially children and young people, live here. Yes, you heard me right, they live here!! The smell, despite the cool early morning air, was just bearable. I can only imagine what it must be like in the heat of the Rwandan sun!! We managed to find some of the young folk, a total of 46, between the ages of 4 and 17 or so.
We are told that there are other children who were on the other side of the huge landfill site. Many of them live on the dump, hoping to find food and even clothing. One of them, a 4 year old boy, was wearing a dress because it was all he had. We collected them together, gave them some food, clothing, love and attention. We were aware that this wasn’t going to be enough.
And so our third Street Kids rescue project was born. We’re hoping to have the project up and running within the next two weeks with the kids housed and fed, then medical insurance, then trusting for them to be in school for start of new school year in January with interim tutoring from school teachers prior to that. We have emergency funds to do that now but will need sponsors as soon as possible. David has a team of four volunteers are ready to help but as yet there is no accommodation. We have some emergency funds to get us started but are looking for sponsors for each of the children. It will cost £20 (now £25 ed.) per month. If you think you can help, please let me know. “A little can change a life”. Murakoze cyane!! (Thank you very much!)
4 November 2017
Wow! It is hard to believe that it was only just over 17 weeks ago since the first team from Comfort Rwanda & Congo (now Comfort International ed.) visited the landfill site in Rwanda!! When I visited on 11 July, we found 46 young people living on the site and scavenging for food. We met together and we gave them food and clothing. The next team took photos and profiles. Together, we put together the third Street Kids Rescue programme. We rented 2 houses and undertook some work to make them ready to receive the kids. Another 9 kids were found living elsewhere on the dump. We could hardly turn them away, could we?
I am humbled and blessed to say that all 55 young people are now being sponsored by folks in Scotland, USA, Luxembourg and in Austria!!
They now have access to stable and secure accommodation; regular wholesome food; safe water to drink (and with which to wash); access to education (something that was only a dream for the majority of them!) and access to healthcare (a lot of them suffer from stomach problems).
Many have already received letters and photos from their sponsors and have responded. Some sponsors have admitted that the letters and photos they get back have resulted in tears of joy. Some of the kids could be supported to return home if this is assessed as safe and appropriate. We are looking to have a joint celebration at Christmas time and are looking for financial donations to allow us to facilitate this. If you are interested in giving to this worthy cause, please let me know. Murakoze cyane!!
Now
That was in 2017 and many of you reading this will have sponsored one or more of these children, will have written to them and received letters and even met them and spent time with them playing, praying and singing. You will know what a wonderful difference this project has made. Below is a photograph of the same group of young people taken in 2018.
Our Christmas Appeal this year in 2020 is focusing on helping many more children, like Emmanuel and the children of this Street Kids Rescue project, who are still living on the streets, in swamps or on dumps. Please spread the word and help us change their lives too.
