S is a beautiful, elegant, wide-eyed and naive girl of 19. I met her in February of 2008 when she came to apply for a scholarship at Christ School Bundibugyo. She had recently been orphaned . . . . by Ebola. Raised by a sincerely loving, caring and affectionate father (though without a living mother), S was lost without the presence of her Dad.  Although our sponsorship program was full I was compelled by her story; by her eyes and by her soft-spoken desperation. I sought out a female doctor friend in the States and asked her to take S’s school fees on. She did.

S’s first months at school were hard. Among the oldest students, she was still bullied by the girls around her.  They teased her about her appearance (slightly tribally distinct), her way of speaking, her father’s death, her stepmother’s rejection of her . . . .   But she persevered and continued with her studies, performing among the top of her class all year.

This year she once again faced bullying and it was a bit too much for her.   She spent long hours remembering her father.  She once again faced rejection by her stepmother.  She began to feel hopeless and suicidal.  She grew weary.  One day she remembered what I had told her and the other orphans in one of our Sponsor meeting times.  “If you have a problem, find a teacher you trust and talk it through.  Or tell me.”  S went to P, one of her trusted teachers, and poured out her heart.  In response he gave her both thoughtful advice and the gospel.  Her life took a dramatic upward turn and S returned often  for counseling and prayer with P.    God used Pastor Brian’s messages during our crusades in July to spark new life in S.  She accepted Jesus and she hasn’t looked back since.

Now nearly finished with her Senior 6 UNEB exams, S isn’t sure where she’ll go next or how she’ll cope with her hostile stepmother or the stepsisters who so greatly resent her.  When I called her to our home to talk today she expressed the lack of possibilities in her future.  But I saw something beautiful in her face – hope.    And as I prayed with her after we talked, we remembered that she does have a Dad.  One even better than the one she lost so quickly and in such a hard way.

And I was reminded, This is Why we do What we do.