Isaac is the life of the party. At school, he always draws a crowd of friends and peers who love to listen to his funny stories. He loves football – Bukayo Saka is his favourite player – and playing games with his friends.
But his open smile and joyful dance moves hide the turmoil this 16-year-old experiences every day when he returns home and finds there’s nothing to eat.
“I came to Uganda when I was very young,” says Isaac, a South Sudanese refugee. “I don’t have my father or mother. Only my auntie; she’s the one taking care of me.”
Many of his friends in the Kiryandongo refugee settlement are orphaned or separated from their families. The loss makes their very survival even more difficult.
“Everything here, it is too hard because many of us lost our parents,”
Isaac says.
“We have nothing to eat.”
But through the support of Feed The Hungry, Isaac receives a hot, nutritious lunch at school every day. Each nutritionally reinforced rice pack contains everything he needs to grow healthy and strong. Importantly, it gives him the energy he needs to concentrate in class and pursue his education.
But your support is urgently needed to continue to provide these life-saving meals.
“A human being cannot stay for the whole day without eating breakfast or lunch, and then you only eat at night.
That is impossible!” says Isaac.
“When I come to school, I feel fresh. At lunchtime, it is good, but we encourage you, bring more meals so that we don’t starve.”
With the nutrition he needs, Isaac has the energy and strength not just to study but to help his uncle on the weekends, slashing the grass to prepare for the next planting season.
When their crops grow, they will take the first fruits to the church as an offering to God, to thank Him for His provision.
“God is great because He created me and He’s been keeping me for all these years. He is giving me life and He’s also showing me how to get my food,”
he says.
“My mother was a doctor”, and now Isaac is clinging to the hope that he can carry on her legacy of caring for others by becoming a doctor himself.
As he shares a meal – and a funny story – with his friends at lunch, a long way from his homeland and without his parents, he still has hope that the future is bright… thanks to friends like you.
“We pray so that God will help us finish school. When we are healthy, then we can get something good!” Says Isaac.
