As one and a half years in Uganda draws to a speedy end, I’m faced with the prospect of a very difficult goodbye. While I will never lose sight of the great good that KISS is able to do on a daily basis, it is also difficult to ignore the many requests for help that we constantly turn away. KISS will never be able to help everyone – but at present we are still saying ‘no’ more than we are able to say ‘yes’. This has been the most difficult aspect of my time in Uganda, and it will be the most difficult aspect of my goodbye. But before I leave, I want KISS to be able to say one extra ‘yes’ – and I really need you to help us to do it!
KISS has been supporting Lawrence since he was 5 years old. Lawrence is now 26 and, together with his partner Harriet, is the parent of two young, beautiful children. Their eldest child, Bruno, is now 5 years old – the same age as Lawrence was when KISS started to pay his school fees. The difference is, unlike Lawrence and Harriet’s own parents, they have been able to send their son to school themselves – a simple testament to the small changes which KISS tries to bring about through education.
However, Lawrence and Harriet face one huge hurdle in their battle to support their family. Lawrence is diabetic, and is reliant on daily doses of insulin, without which he becomes incredibly unwell very quickly. This insulin comes at a cost of £27 per month – a huge drain on the family’s resources when you consider that Harriet’s monthly salary is just £17 per month. Because of his illness, Lawrence is still reliant on KISS for this monthly support – but both Lawrence and KISS are desperate for him to be able to support himself and his family independently of KISS. On a personal level it breaks my heart that such a fantastic bloke should be denied the basic opportunity of supporting his family simply because he has diabetes. The most recent conversation I had with Lawrence ended with the both of us in tears – he feels totally crushed by his inability to help his family in the way he would like. Having lost Lucy to this illness earlier in the year, it angers me that the same illness continues to cause such needless heartache to someone so close to me.
KISS would like to say ‘Yes’ to helping Lawrence secure this independence – to give him the dignity and joy of knowing that he is able to support himself and his children without having to rely on us for his insulin. Lawrence would like to become a ‘boda boda’ driver – to provide a motorbike taxi service around Hoima town. With Lawrence’s current income, buying such a bike will be impossible for him. This is where you come in. I want to raise at least £1000 in the next 4 weeks. £1000 would buy Lawrence the bike and relevant permits to provide him with a daily income. I say ‘at least’ because I don’t want to stop there! Anything which can be raised over and above the £1000 will go towards helping KISS to say ‘yes’ to even more next year. Please, please dig deep – a small sacrifice today could quite literally change Lawrence’s life tomorrow – and goodness knows how many more in the future.
Please visit www.justgiving.com/OneExtraYES to contribute towards the cost of Lawrence’s bike. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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