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Meet Achan Grace
and 'Gift from God'
It was a miracle that the faint
cry of the baby was heard at all. Having been placed in a dustbin shortly
after birth the chances of surviving were remote. A passing policeman
heard the baby and found it wrapped in a dirty blanket.
The policeman returned to his
slum with the baby. Word went out in search of someone to care for this
foundling. Achan Grace, stepped forward. She is mother of five children,
including two-year-old twins and three big brothers, all of whom are under
the age of eight. They all live together in a mudroom without electricity
or running water. She embraced with love the responsibility and cost of
caring for yet another child. She named the baby 'Gift from God' and calls
him simply 'Gift'.
Grace is a refugee from the
war in Northern Uganda. She had been living in abject poverty before she
became a beader for BeadforLife. She had tearfully relinquished one of
her children, 3-year-old Joseph, to an orphanage because her children
were starving to death. Now she has brought Joseph home to live with his
siblings and the new baby.
In the photo she is holding
up a red necklace and earrings that she made for Oprah Winfrey. She won
the contest with these beautiful beads and we sent them to Oprah. Hasn't
she got an incredible smile for someone who has endured a difficult life
and is so lacking in material things?
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