When you live in poverty as a child, nothing is easy. For Mwandu Catherine(6yr-old), even getting to school on time is a constant struggle and she always rushes to arrive before morning assembly.

That’s because she is tired. Exhausted, in fact, from having been kept awake through the night from the filthy, noisy, insects that creep into her room from the nearby sugarcane plantation.  No child should be expected to sleep in such conditions but Cathy has no choice.

She lives with her mother  and nine siblings but, since her father ran away from his responsibility, there has been no one to take care of her family.  Her  mother sometimes choose to do brick laying and digging for other families in order to be able to feed her huge family and her siblings  begs on the streets in a desperate attempt to feed themselves but they have become used to skipping a meal or two a day.

Although walking to school with  an empty stomach seems like too much for a child, Catherine  refuses to give up and she always takes the first position in class (she is so bright in class).  She may arrive late most days, but she understands that getting education and good grades is her only means of escaping the poverty she now faces.  Beautiful Cathy is still in desperate need of someone’s love and support… someone to give to give her an opportunity to change her future and be able to help her family!!              

Matthew 18:5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receive me.  Serve Christ by serving others. Have empathy for the fatherless. God will not forget your kindness!