Birthday : Feb 14

Background:

This little 11-year-old girl came to us through the socialwelfare office after it was discovered by a local clinic that she was being sexually abused by her father and members of her community.

When Mwape was just 3 months old, she was diagnosed with Cerebral Malaria, is mentally handicapped and also suffers from epilepsy. Since she had seizures and was mentally handicapped, the men in her community took advantage of her. Prior to joining Vima Lupwa Home she had not had healthy interactions with people. It is difficult to get any information from her because she was never taught that rape was wrong, but rather that it was part of everyday life. So far she has told us about 4 different men who would take her into the forest to rape her. The way she describes it is very violent.

Mwape arrived into our home severely malnourished. Her hands were frozen into fists and she had sores all over her body. It took her several months to learn to eat on her own and start letting her hands relax and open.

More stories are coming now that Mwape feels safe in our home. Mwape is now 14 and is making improvements every day: we were able to put her on medicine for her seizures, from which she was suffering up to three times a day. They have now decreased to about once or twice a week, a major improvement indeed!

There is a lot of hope for Mwape now that she is in our care and will receive the best opportunities we can find for her. A local teacher has been hired to come daily and teach her life skills and some academics. She is actively working on her ABCs and counting.

Never having gone to school before, she is learning the daily obligation of washing, getting dressed and staying focused on her lessons. Her laugh is contagious and keeps all the kids and her teacher constantly entertained. She participates in the nightly routine of singing and clapping songs while dancing around the room with the other children. She has so much joy and hope.

Mwape is very good at learning simple tasks with repetition. She is thrilled each time Winnie comes to teach her to make jewelry, macrame and floor mats. She loves to water the garden and helps the family in any way she is able. There is never a quiet moment in the house with Mwape, as she is the last to fall asleep at night and the first to wake up with her singing and laugher.