Brenda
Brenda has a big personality and is very much a leader in the home! She loves
to walk around our home singing at the top of her lungs and teaching our
visitors how to dance traditional Ugandan dances! Always excited to learn new
things and very curious about life, she wants to be a doctor when she grows up
andvworks hard to learn her lessons at Little Rina, our local school. She’s a
tomboy at heart, wanting to wrestle and compete with the boys in races and
games. Brenda makes friends wherever she goes and brings joy and life to our
Rafiki home!
History
Brenda was abandoned
by her mother when she was young, and her father could no longer care for both
her & her younger sister, Esther (who is also here at Rafiki). Brenda’s
father was an alcoholic & although he loved both of his the girls, he knew
that he could no longer care for them. She was neglected, severely
malnourished, living in poverty & taking care of her younger sister at just
5 years old when she came to us. When we first met Brenda we could see the weight of the world
on her shoulders. She was acting as a mother to her younger sister, Esther
& at only 5 years old, she could not be a kid. She was one of over 3 million destitute, orphaned children living in the
streets and slums of Uganda. But Brenda
is NO longer one of these children
because she is now part of our Rafiki Family where she receives all the love
and care she needs!
Funky Facts!
Favorite things… Color: Pink Animal: Cow
Food:
Chicken and Rice
Game:
Jump Rope Activity:
Drawing with chalk
Volunteer Corner
Brenda
is the actress in the house. Every day, she never fails to make me laugh
especially when she tries to act like an American. Many Muzungus (anyone who is not a Ugandan)
have come through the Rafiki home, so Brenda has learned a lot. She tries to
say words in an American accent, but the words come out sounding out of place with her little Ugandan accent. She loves to dance, and she often tries to teach
me to dance in the traditional Ugandan way, which requires an insane amount of hip movement and
overall body coordination that I didn’t know such a small girl could be capable
of. For the past few weeks she has taken to acting like a monkey. I’m not sure
what inspired her to do this, but it’s stuck for a couple weeks now. I just
remember her jumping on me one day and clinging to me as if she were a monkey on its Mama’s back. She
proceeded to shout rather loudly in my ear that she was a baby monkey and I had
to carry her around as my baby. So I guess this means I’m a monkey, too?
Nevertheless, we are having a great time being monkeys together. I know it probably sounds cheesy and
cliché, but seeing Brenda and the rest of the kids smile and laugh- having a
good time- it’s why we are here.
By : Stephanie Madrid
Child Care Worker
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For the next few weeks we will be posting stories of all the
kids here at Rafiki Africa Ministries (RAM). We want to give these kids a
voice. There are more struggling kids here in Uganda than anyone is able to
count. Here are the stories of 13 kids who's lives were changed by God through
the work of RAM. We want to make you a part of this work, there is so much love
and joy overflowing out of the Rafiki Home and we want you to experience this
through these stories. We hope you can get to know the kids through these
updates and we pray that you will fall in love with them just as we have. Be a
part of the changes God continues to make in the lives of these kids. Make a
difference. Spread the word.
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