Seniors and their grandchildren in Uganda and Ethiopia face hopelessness every day. Will you consider being a special friend to make a difference? Senior Friendship is only $38 a month. A Senior like Joyce needs you!
How Does Sponsorship Work?
For only $38 a month, ROTOM Uganda and/or ROTOM Ethiopia will offer free medical treatment, monthly food support once per week, regular at-home visits, and provide teaching skills to improve their daily living. Your donation also goes to providing safe, nutritious food to vulnerable seniors in Uganda and Ethiopia grappling with food insecurity. In addition, your Senior will also have access to safe, secure housing and the ability to attend fellowship gatherings that meet bi-monthly where they get to be with other ROTOM seniors to share their stories of similarity in this season of life!
GET TO KNOW GEORGE, SILAS, ANNA, JOHNSON, DORAH & MAGRETE
George lives alone and is divorced, living in a solid brick and cement house that belongs to one of his friends. He has a bedframe, an old mattress, blanket and bed sheets. The pit latrine is old and needs to be repaired. George has a tiny kitchen shelter made of old, worn out iron sheets.
George is an immigrant from the Republic of the Congo and has lived in Uganda since childhood. He has one daughter, Kyolaba, who lives in the city, visiting him regularly providing consistent support.
For many years he has suffered with mild paralysis of his lower limbs. Because of being an anemic, he was advised to correct a bad diet but cannot afford to eat well or nutritiously. At his home, he has a small garden to grow food. He mainly survives on the kindness of his neighbors. While younger, he used to be a peasant farmer and also did menial jobs around his village for pay. He now does not work and struggles to make it by.
Silas is an immigrant from Rwanda who left during the civil unrest in 1964 to Uganda to seek employment. He left his wife and 3 children back in Rwanda and has not seen them since. Silas remarried in Uganda and they had a daughter who unfortunately died. Silas and his late wife’s marriage did not survive the death of their only child and they are separated. Silas says he is far too old to return to Rwanda, a country he left in his youth and barely remembers. He is also estranged from his children and has no idea how to repair their relationship after many decades.
Silas lives alone in his own, very small house that his local church helped him build. The home is in fair condition however he sleeps on the floor and has no bedding as well as no pit latrine.
So far he has remained in good health apart from life’s instability but does have recurring fevers and a chronic cough. Silas used to be a peasant farmer in which he grew food for his home and also worked in other people’s gardens as a day laborer. Now he survives on the kindness of his sister, church and neighbors.
Anna is widowed and lives with her granddaughter, Helen in a 4-room mud and wattle home that is in fair condition. Anna is lacking bedding supplies; her granddaughter has an older bedframe, mattress, and bedding.
Granny Anna has 5 children total: 3 boys and 2 girls. Her children are all married with their own families. They barely get by and survive by working menial jobs around their community and do not support their mother at all. Anna’s daughter (mother of Helen) works hard as a day laborer in other people’s gardens to raise money for Helen’s school needs. Her granddaughter Helen who lives with Granny Anna helps often with their household chores after school and also during school holidays.
Anna suffers with high blood pressure and constant headaches. She is in need of visiting the Health Center for a medical checkup and treatment but cannot due to lack of money. Anna works extremely hard growing food in her garden to feed her family. She earns money to buy the most basic items such as salt, flour and matches from selling bananas from her garden.
Johnson, a widower lives in his own dilapidated, old mud and wattle house with a pit latrine without a door. His granddaughter, Prize lives with him and they each have their own rooms.
He and his late wife Alice had 10 children (5 of them are deceased). There are 4 daughters and 1 son living. They are all married and live far away and rarely make contact with him.
Johnson lives with his granddaughter, who attends Primary 2 at Kahama Primary School. He is her main support. Johnson is very weak due to HIV. He walks about 15 kilometers from his house routinely to the government health center to get an ARV treatment and is always told to purchase other medication that he is unable to afford due to lack of funds.
When Johnson worked, he was a gardener and earned a living in other peoples’ gardens and sold honeybee hives. He was able to supply his basic needs but now he is weak and tries to tend small garden to produce food for his family.
Dorah lives with her husband, Charles Ktungi along with son, Award who attends Senior 6 and their 2 other grandchildren all in school. The family reside in a 4-room, mud and wattle house. The walls are getting weak and the roof leaks when it rains and the kitchen shelter is leaky. The pit latrine is made up of dried banana leaves used for a bathroom. The couples’ bedframe and bedding are older, and the other children all share a room with old bedding also.
The couple originally had 6 children: two passed away and 3 kids live in the same village but are day laborers and cannot help their mother. The children living with her help them with household chores such as cooking, fetching water, collecting firewood and working in the garden for food supply to pay for their school fees. They are often sent home from schools because fees are not paid. She is a subsistence farmer in her gardens to provide food for her family.
Dorah suffers with undiagnosed stomach issues. Luckily she is able to go to the nearby government health center where she receives temporary pain medication.
Furidah lives with her 3 grandchildren in a 4-room home, on land that she owns. The roof is old and leaks when it rains. The walls, windows, doors, kitchen shelter and pit latrine are all in fair
Furidah and her late husband, Wilson had 11 children and now she’s a widow. Her children occasionally visit and help her with household chores in her garden.
She lives with 3 grandchildren, Rosette 12 in primary 5; Emmanuel, 9 in primary 3 and Julius 5 in nursery school. Their mother died and the father remarried. They are supported by their Uncle Mathias with school fees and dues. They all help by fetching water and collecting firewood in the evenings after school.
Furidah has high blood pressure, peptic ulcer disease and pain in her legs. She visits the Mparo government health center for medical services. It is very far from her home and she does not have money for transportation. She was a farmer and used to plant beans, potatoes and sorghum to provide for her family. Though she is old and frail, she tries to cultivate her garden to produce food. She has a small banana plantation near her home where she can get plantains to feed her family. Sometimes her children visit to help with the garden.
Would you decide to bless one of these beautiful elder persons who live in abject poverty with your monthly support?
“I came that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)