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A story of perseverance and triumph . . .

 While visiting Shammah this August many of the children told us their stories and shared their dreams.  One such story was that of Bonface Brown Indakwa.  I would like to share a portion of his story with you as told in his words with little editing.  While this may not be your typical Christmas story, it is one of strength, perseverance and hope.

            I was born into a God fearing family with a very humble background.  My dad worked as an administration police while my mother enjoyed her daily chores as a housewife and tirelessly spent most of her time doing small scale farming of which I was not exempted from as the firstborn according to our tradition.  I spent most of the time with my mom in the countryside and I am grateful that this became the place that shaped me up, if it is true that life shapes up people.  We could at least afford two meals a day, but not always, since my mother earned just a little from selling some of the farm produce.  Dad sent us very little approximately five to six dollars every month end, but this was very insufficient to cover school fees, food, clothing and other basic necessities.

            In 1998 my father married a second wife whom I almost disliked, not because she was bad, but because she always mistreated us and made our lives more miserable in the hands of my own dad.  I always appreciated her and treated her as my mom.  The only unfortunate bit of it was that she was infected with HIV/AIDS.  She looked very healthy and my dad had little suspicion.  It was too late when he found out.  He went to be tested and had my mom accompany him.  It was sad when I heard that they were positive but there was nothing I could do about it but to accept them as my parents.

            In April 2000, my dad became weakly and sick.  He was admitted to bed for almost a month but efforts to make him recover bore no fruit.  He passed away in May, it was too painful.  He left four of us, two widows and a handful of dependants.  Funny enough the second wife who had a daughter, deserted her matrimonial home with her daughter and till this day their whereabouts have remained unknown to the rest of the family.

            I have two brothers, Jack and Hanningtone.  Our youngest brother died a few days after mom’s burial in 2001; he just died mysteriously.  We had to stay very close to our mom who was then falling sick all the time.  She lacked proper medication, she also had little food and other resources.  Her situation got worse each and everyday.  She died in March 2001.  I was totally traumatized.  I had a feeling of being neglected and wanted to take my own life.

            Loosing both my mom and dad we were isolated. Friends and relatives avoided contact with us for the simple reason that they always believed we had been infected.  I personally played the major responsibility of a caretaker since I am the first born.  I cannot tell you how I did it.  I recall waking up at wee hours, clean up everywhere, prepare my brothers for school, make enough for the cattle and make the best plan for the rest of the day before leaving for school at seven o’clock.  It was just a miracle how we survived.  My performance in class drastically dropped and this happened to raise the teacher’s concern.  They made an effort to find a way of helping us out and that is when we had luck on our side to be taken care of by one of my uncles who had just come back from the city. 

            I actually can’t be sure what to call what happened next, but rather just call it a terrible thing that again happened.  The very person we thought was to be a “savior” also passed away a year later.

            From there onward, life was not that easy, we had to do little bits of magic to survive.  It all included working for people who paid us less than a dollar a day; sometimes we involved ourselves in charcoal burning which we could sell and make some money,  Our school fees ran out and we never had enough food to eat so our health suffered and it could be seen in our eyes.

            One day word came to us that a Pastor Micah Ommani was starting an orphanage and was looking for orphaned children.  I didn’t hesitate to try my luck and good enough, the three of us together (myself, my brother and one cousin) were taken in as part of the beginnings of Shammah Orphanage Home.

              Bonface and his brother Jackton (Jack) joined Shammah in October 2002.  Bonface has completed school with honors, paid for by Windows of Hope,  and is now looking forward to attending medical school in the United States.  Jackton has tested HIV positive and is taking the medication necessary to keep him healthy and he is doing great.