Impact Stories
Stephen
You Come
When I smell, you still come!
When flies are all over my room, you still come!
When the weather is bad and the roads are impassable, you still come!
Even when there are Covid-19 travel restrictions, You still come!
What kind of people are You?
What am I to you?
You have treated me like a close family member. Yet you barely know me.
At this point, I know am not going to get cured of this disease. But I thank you so much for continuing to come and check on me, asking me how am doing, taking away my pain, taking away the smell, taking away the flies, taking away the hunger and filling my heart with Joy. If it weren’t for you, I would be dead 8 months ago.
As for today:
The food, soap, and comfort fund you brought for me has helped re-affirm my status as a father and provider in my family. I am 1000 times happier than what my diseased face can express.
Thank you so much Rays of Hope. If you find me alive next time, we shall continue with the talk, if you find me dead, please know that you have been my dearest friends in the last times of my life. My family and I are very very grateful.
May God reward you abundantly,
Stephen
Waiswa Moses
A Young Man to be Seen by All
Waiswa came to Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja in January 2016 when he was 12 years old. He is born with HIV/AIDS, and the treatment was not going well. Moreover, he had developed Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a cancer which is related to HIV/AIDS.
Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja supported him with food to help him take his AIDS medicine correctly, and he was in 2017 taken for cancer treatment at Mulago Hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Waiswa responded well to his treatment, and he was now ready to go back to school. As he comes from an extremely poor family, the mother could not pay for school fees, so RHHJ supported him to go to school.In May 2019 Rays of Hope also helped the family to get a small house as their old house was falling apart.
Wiaswa’s HIV/AIDS is now under control and the cancer is cured. Waiswa was discharged from the RHHJ Medical Programme in
2020, but he is still in the School Support Programme.
Waiswa has proven to be a very good and promising student and Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja is now trying to get him a stipend to a very good boarding school.
After the school interview we received this beautiful letter from Waiswa – and we are now passing it on to you. No words could better express the importance of helping the people around us in need of care and support – one at a time. With a little help for body, mind and soul Waiswa is now flourishing - becoming the wonderful young man that he was always meant to be – a young man to be seen by all.
Jackeline
Jackeline is a 27-year-old single mother with a story of remarkable courage, determination and a beautiful character inside and out.
Jackeline developed sudden nose bleeding in early 2018. She didn’t worry about it until a swelling in her nose started to grow and soon involved the left eye region as well. Jackeline was enrolled in the Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja Programme at the end of 2018 and we supported Jackeline to get further investigations at Mulago Cancer Institute in Kampala. She was diagnosed with cancer in her nose and sinuses in February 2019, but her cancer was too advanced for a cure, so we supported her for palliative radiotherapy. Although the treatment is hard, she she never, ever misses an appointment at Mulago as she so wants to live a long, happy life.
Jackeline is one of the most inspiring patients we have come across, with a determined, hopeful spirit. Her tumour has disfigured her face, causes her incredible pain and has an awful odour, but you would never guess any of these things were bothering her. When we go for home visits Jackeline always has a huge smile on her face and greets our team with a warm hug. Jackeline wants very much to advocate for other patients, too and she wants her story to be known so that she will never be forgotten.
In July 2020, when she was undergoing treatment in Mulago, Jackeline wasn’t feeling well and another patient, Joy - also there for treatment - took care of her. When Jackeline learned a few months later learned that Joy was admitted to Kamuli Hospital, Jackeline immediately travelled over 80km to take care of her, without question.
Jackeline is such a kind, loving and giving person – she inspires people and spreads joy wherever she goes. We all have a lot to learn from her - how lucky we are to know her.
We are sad to report that Jackeline passed away in 2021, but she got three more beautiful years with her children.
