If you’ve ever wondered what we do here at Malayaka House…this is what we do.
Yes, the vocational training, education, businesses, and sustainability are important. We strive every day to be fully self-sufficient so that our children will grow into self-sufficient adults. We are proud of our businesses, and our accomplishments.
But at the end of the day, we are here for Patricia. We are here for Sam. We are here for Jimmy and Isabella, Didas and Justine, Bobo and Achin, Naiga and Dave.
We are here for our children. Children who were abused or neglected or discarded, or all three. Children whose mothers died in childbirth, or whose tiny bodies were found – hours old – in a plastic bag, left to die.
If you want to know what we do at Malayaka House, look to Patricia. Patu, as we call her, arrived at Malayaka House two years ago, only days old, and barely alive. Her mother died in childbirth, and her grandmother had been feeding her only glucose water. She was severely malnourished and underweight. We didn’t think she would make it.
After weeks in the hospital, Patu began to thrive, slowly but surely. We started to think there was a chance…
Last week, Patu celebrated her 2nd birthday. She is as strong as can be, full of sass and joy and laughter. Patu and her “gang of babies,” as we like to call them, rule Malayaka House these days. We can’t imagine our family without Patu, but then, we couldn’t imagine our family without a single one of our 45 children. How can that be? These were victims of poverty, death, disease, and abuse. They were never supposed to be our children. We were never supposed to be a family.
People often say things are “meant to be,” or that the “universe works in mysterious ways.” Maybe. But here’s what we know for sure – there is plenty of hate in the world, plenty of fear and political divisiveness, plenty of greed and lust for power. Hate is strong. But there is something much stronger.
The resilience of a child who has been through it all – who was born into hate or poverty or disease or greed – is nothing short of a miracle. It is astounding, awe inspiring.
Nothing can fill you with joy and hope more than the joy and hope of a child who has endured suffering you will never know. Nothing can destroy hate more efficiently than the love of a child who was once unloved. Nothing brings more light into this world than the gratitude of a child who has finally found a home, a family.
Nothing is more powerful than love. And we’ve got tons of it here.
