TRIVANI FOUNDATION UPDATE           

            July 8, 2009

She walks the dusty streets alone and afraid. Where will her next meal come from? Where will she sleep tonight? These are questions that I have never had to ask myself…have you?

The civil war raging in Uganda has ravaged the country. Families have been torn apart, countless lives have been lost, and scores of children have been left utterly alone and unprepared for life’s challenges. This is the awful situation that thousands of Ugandan children find themselves in.

“Shadow children,” a phrase the local people reserve for orphans, are considered an embarrassment and a burden. Their existence is not acknowledged. Many die alone and unnoticed.

Janipher is one of these “shadow children.” She was once a young, vibrant, beautiful girl with loads of energy and excitement for life. Now she must struggle for survival, roaming the streets alone. Parentless, friendless, and without a family member to call her own, she jumps on a rickety old bus, unsure of her destination. She must go somewhere and find some sort of work to do, so she wanders from city to city struggling to survive. Each town she comes to seems offers the same option: hard work for little reward and relentless mistreatment. She eventually comes to a small ghost town called Kaberamaido. Hoping this might be her place of salvation, she finds a family that will take her in as a maid which barely secures her next meal. She is a strong, motivated young lady. She has experienced more hardship by the age of 12 than many of us will in a lifetime.

Once again, Janipher is confronted with severe maltreatment on a daily basis. But she knows she must deal with it in order to survive. Is it worth it? Does she want to live to see tomorrow if it just means more of the horror she has already lived through? Would you? Will she ever find respite?
Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?

Janipher is in the midst of shutting down emotionally and mentally when a real life miracle happens. The governor of Kaberamaido intervenes and takes Janipher to Asayo’s Wish Foundation. It is a foundation focused on giving a child a reason to look forward to tomorrow. It helps orphaned, abused, and abandoned children and women improve their lives by educating them, teaching them basic business skills and providing vocational training.

When Janipher arrives at Asayo’s Wish Foundation she has been so traumatized that she is unable to give them much information about her past. It is still unknown how old she was when her parents died, how long she has been traveling alone, or even where she came from.

Now all of her past, is past. She has been at Asayo’s Wish Foundation- The Children’s Village for two years:off of the streets, away from abuse, and given a new chance at life. Janipher had never had an opportunity to attend school before coming to The Children’s Village. Now she stands proudly in her brilliant blue school uniform, at the age of 14, top of her class. Her smile could light up the entire continent of Africa.

Before reading this you knew nothing of Janipher. You did not know that both of her parents were killed in the civil war. You didn’t know the fight for life she had to face everyday. But you also didn’t know about how her existence changed, how one organization saved her from a life, or death, on the streets. One humble girl’s life may not seem like much in the scheme of things, but it meant something to her, and it means something to the Asayo’s Wish Foundation…what does it mean to you?

Visit the Trivani Foundation website for more ways to contribute to the change we wish to see in the world.