Emmanuel is from Uganda. Uganda is in southern Africa, where the AIDS problem is the worst. He lives with his mother and brother, named Fred. Fred is a few year older than Emmanuel. Their father died before Emmanuel was born, of a mysterious disease...
When Emmanual was 3, his mother began to get sick. Finally Fred, who was 8, borrowed a bicycle from a neighbor and pushed their momma for half a day to get her to the medical clinic. They gave her medicines, and after a month, sent her home. She used up the medicines, and got sicker and sicker. One day she didn't wake up...
The boys carried their mother into the nearby banana grove and buried her there. They walked miles and miles to their aunt's house, but when they got there their aunt made them leave. She said that their mother made their father sick, and that she gave them the disease, too. So they walked the miles back home. They had brought all they owned with them, but their aunt took everything from them but two blankets and a cooking pot. Finally they made it back home.
They lived alone for a little bit, but one night a huge storm came. It rained so much that it caused their little hut to collapse. Fred took Emmanuel back to the banana grove where their mother was buried and they built a little shelter out of banana leaves and stuff. They lived there for awhile, two kids, trying to survive.
One day a neighbor came through the grove and saw the boys and how they were living. He told them he would help them build a better shelter. They worked and built a small shelter out of mud and sticks. It was much better than where they were living in the grove. The boys lived there for a few years, somehow finding food and staying alive. I guess when you are forced to do whatever necessary to find food, you somehow manage to find what you can...
Emmanuel began to get sick. It would come and go, but it worried Fred. Fred met a teacher one day who explained to him what AIDS was. Up until that point, the boys didn't know what it was that had made they mother and father so sick and killed them... But now, was Emmanuel sick, too? Fred took him to the clinic one day, saying that they needed to find out if Emmanuel had this AIDS, if their mother had given it to him at birth. Emmanueal was scared. He was about 6 now. He didn't want to die. He had seen how sick his mother was, nursed her through her dreaded disease, and watched her die, still too young to really even understand what was happening. He took the test and waited. Finally they called his name and he went up to the window to get his results. He was HIV...negative.
The boys went back to their shelter and continued with their life. One day a World Vision worker found the boys and saw how they were living. He took them and found sponsors for them. With the money from the sponsors, World Vision was able to build a small two room house for the boys and provide healthy food and water, and education. Now Emmanuel is 11, and Fred is about 16. And they are finally okay.
This kind of thing happens everyday in Africa. Every 14 seconds, a child is orphaned because of this horrible disease. There are thousands of children living in Africa just like Emmanuel and Fred, trying to survive, but not really knowing how or what to do. Without our help, they won't really have a chance. I know it seems a world away, and it's hard to really understand from all the way over here in America... But think of it this way - when those mothers and fathers were sick and dying, I bet they worried and prayed that somehow their kids would be okay. And, in a lot of cases, World Vision and other organizations like it, are the answers to those prayers. We can help. We can be the answer.
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.
Matthew 10:42
