This may be a disturbing post for some of you to read – it’s a disturbing post for me to write. Yet while disturbing, it’s necessary and worthwhile, because people like Maria and Elizabeth are why Loving One by One (LOBO) exists. Maria & Elizabeth are 2-year-old twin girls in Uganda, who LOBO team members found last summer.
Two years old – but when we found them last summer, they weighed 10 & 12 pounds each. A little over the weight of newborn babies. Maria & Elizabeth were found living in a home with a 7-year old brother who frequently took care of them, while the mother worked in the fields, or drank with the neighbors. The dad was and still is nowhere to be found.
Two years old – 10 & 12 pounds. Oh – Maria was blind in one eye and deaf; Elizabeth was blind in both eyes. And their 7-year-old brother took care of them.
Maria & Elizabeth’s situation has improved quite a bit, but they still have a long way to go. LOBO has been able to provide nutrition and medical help. Maria is able to hear now! We are looking into surgery to help Elizabeth have at least some of her eyesight. But there’s still a long way to go – in the U.S., local family services would be called in to intervene. In Uganda, social services are very minimal, and the reality is that no one is likely to intervene in Maria & Elizabeth’s situation. Or in thousands of other situations. But, Maria & Elizabeth are why Loving One by One exists.
Maria & Elizabeth’s story is still in progress. I read updates almost daily. There’s hope – but there’s a long way to go. The mother is thankful for our help, and is more or less cooperative – but, there’s a long way to go. I’m looking forward to meeting Maria & Elizabeth when I’m in Uganda in a few months, and I’m hopeful they’ll be healthier and in a better situation overall. But the reality is – there are way too many Maria’s & Elizabeth’s in Uganda.
That’s why LOBO is in Uganda, and that’s why I keep going back. You can help. You can sponsor medical care for kids like Maria & Elizabeth. You can sponsor a child, or a couple of children, in our school. And, just thought I’d throw it out there – you can provide a tax-deductible donation to help fund my work in Uganda this summer.
For more information on everything in the above paragraph, email me at charley@charleymiller.net! And, if you’re in SoCal on March 5th, ask me about the “Send Charley Back to Uganda” Concert. You’re invited.
And don’t forget about Maria & Elizabeth.
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