“On the 22nd May 2020, my mum who had been ill with cancer for several months passed on. Since her burial, our dad has not been home. He now has a second wife and mostly lives with her. My aunt (a 44y/o sister to our late mum) came for the burial and ever since finding out that there is no parent figure now for us, she has stayed to take care of us and handle people coming home to mourn with us’’.
Patience and her 6 siblings have found themselves grieving the loss of their mother, and struggling to face an uncertain future. As a pupil of IGF’s Amida Primary School, a team from IGF recently visited Patience and supported the family with food and hygiene supplies.
The eldest brother in the family narrated to us their situation since their mother passed away. “Our father has another wife and does not render help to us. This has made it very hard for us to cope with the death of our beloved mother and it has also made it very difficult to feel complete. We now have so much uncertainties over the future of our education. Am glad my sister is at Childcare Amida [IGF’s Amida Primary School], at least they can listen to our plea and allow her study, but I am so worried about mine. I’m in senior six and when school resumes, I don’t know if I can be able to finish and sit for exams”
“Also, feeding has become a real burden. There are people still coming to visit and pay their respect. We have used all that was left and a day’s meal is now quite a hustle to get. We also face huge fear of how life shall be when our aunt returns to her home. She will soon go back because she only temporarily came when we had just lost mum. She left behind her family and will soon go back to them. When she is gone, I don’t know how to cook and Patience is the only young girl of the family and we don’t want to load her with too much work and the rest. That is why we are all very afraid that there will be no parental/mother figure for us when she leaves”.
“Before the virus we had a small business and it could generate enough money to support the family but since the lockdown, the business has gone down and has really been affected leading to really low income to support the family. We had started doing some farm activities but since the lockdown, we cannot now reach the farm on foot so the Corona Virus lockdown and the passing of our mum has really disrupted farm activities”.
“School has been closed. There are radio lessons that other families are following but not us. We don’t have radios or TV in the house. I think this puts us in the disadvantage when school resumes. I read some times but not always. It is hard for me to fully focus. Even for Patience, it is worse. Since last week, I try to show her some school work but she is still very broken.”
Patience’s aunty conveyed her appreciation, saying “I am so grateful for everything. I feel much encouraged today. Your visit will strengthen the kids. I sincerely appreciate everything brought but more importantly, am grateful for your visit because it has encouraged the kids and now Patience knows she is not alone. She has got a school that cares for her and a sponsor that supports and prays for her.”
Visiting families of IGF children during the lockdown has been such an important activity. Not only through providing much needed food relief and hygiene items, but through remaining connected and demonstrating that together we can get through this situation.
As the current covid-19 situation continues, help us reach even more families with these important food relief packages. Make a tax-deductible donation to covid-19 relief packages.
