Shay’s story
Shay, with yellow trousers, with his siblings Victor, holding Irnesit and Gift (left, behind Shay).
The story we’re about to tell started on a normal sunny day about three years ago.
Life in the center flowed as usual, with the staff of the orphanage engaged in the daily tasks of caring for children.
Our facility is located near some villages and near a plot of land where children from nearby communities usually gather to play.
The rural communities surrounding the centre are extremely poor.
The economy is based on agriculture and small business and it is very frequent that parents leave their children unattended while they go to work, entrusting the older to the care of the younger children.
In the middle of that anonymous day, the attention of Diana and other staff members was drawn to the desperate screams that came from outside the center of Way to the Nations.
It was a mother who cried inconsolably because one of her children, who she had left to play with his brothers while she had gone to try to earn the little that would be needed to feed them that day, had fallen into a barrel of water on which he had leaned, trying to drink. But, being too weak due to the state of malnutrition, he had not managed to get out, nor had any of the other children managed to get him out.
This is how Diana and all the team happened to meet Shedrac, Victor, Gift, Inemesit, Favour and their mother.
The sixth sibling had just drowned in the water barrel and the mother was desperately trying to take him back to life.
Our team members took their van and lifted the mother and the kid to a first local hospital, then a second and finally in town, but nothing could be done and the child was declared dead.
The accidental death of that little angel was the outcome of the conditions of extreme poverty in which his family lived and still lives.
This was one of the most shocking experience that we lived.
From that moment on, Way to the Nations never abandoned “Shedrac’s family” (there is a special feeling of protection around little Shedrac, our little prince, and therefore we confidentially speak of them all as of “Shay’s group”!).
These last years after the little angel’s death have been tough for this family that we so much care about.
To help them, we established the program that we call “a meal per day”: a support of food on daily bases for families in high economic difficulties.
The people who who would need to attend the program are many, but, unfortunately, for the moment, we cannot afford to help as much as we would love to.
Actually, we are limited to Shay’s family, but we hope that, in the future, thanks to the help of our supporters, we will do much.
So, back to our prince Shay’s story, the condition of extreme poverty into which he and his family live, worsened in the past year due to the pandemic.
Not differently from what has happened in many families around the world, the stressful situation affected Shay’s parents' relationship, reason why their father, who was living with them, went away to live in another village, taking with him only Favour.
Shay’s mother remained alone to grow Shedrac, Victor, Gift and Inemesit, the children that you see in the picture.
Recently Shay’s mother lost her work and, as a consequence, was not able to let the children go to school and, finally, they have been evicted from their little, poor house.
At the moment, Shay and all his family are living on the street, and we cannot tolerate it.
Since their mother every day goes around to look for small works to survive, the children are left alone roaming around the village.
They come to our center to get their meal, but this is the only comfort that these children have in their lives right now.
If you, who are reading this article, are a parent ... Imagine how you would feel if you had to fight to feed your children and didn’t know where to sleep at night; what would it feel like to know that the future that awaits them is that of beggars on the street?
Try also to imagine yourself as a child: how would you have felt if all your certainties had collapsed, if suddenly you had no more right to go to school, nor had you had the safety of a home?
This is the thought that torments us and it is because we want to give these children their future back, that we have studied a strategy.
But we need your help!
Shay’s mother can make it, she can have a fresh start with our help.
But to make this family begin a new chapter we need to:
help them with at least one year’s rent of a house (this is essential, because it will save the children from the street and will put them in the condition to begin to go to school again).
Help their mother to start up her own business. Our staff will give to her all the assistance needed and will back her in the process to gain her confidence and her independence again: we will make sure that the efforts do not go lost.
Pay for the children’s school admission fees.
Buy all the materials that they need to go to school (uniforms, sandals, school bags, writing tools.
Help pay the year’s levies.
We estimate that all this requires an overall investment of about € 500,00.
It might be a huge sum for just one person, but together we can do it!
Way to the Nations is a non profit that give 100% of the donations that it gets, to the projects that it sponsors.
This is possibile because all the people behind Way to the Nations are volunteers.
Every single coin that you give to us, will be spent on the project and we will always be able to prove it, with the maximum transparence on the way we use your donations.
Choose to make the difference in the life of an entire family!
Give childhood and hope and future back to Shay and his siblings.
Thank you so much for your kind attention and your big heart.
Elena, on behalf of Leonardo and all the volunteers of Way to the Nations.
Shay’s former house. The family had to leave it because they could not afford the rent.
