Hope you are well, I write this to tell you that I am very happy and thankful for everything that is now happening in my life, first of all for my new contract 2020, secondly for the love and care that you have shown me, thirdly for loving my family and lastly for not being only a Director but friend. Every day I ask myself where I would be if I didn’t meet Meeting point international, where would I be if I didn’t meet Aunt Rose <maybe I would even have become nobody, maybe drunkard, maybe a thief or even a drug user but Meeting Point international gave me a new life, a starting point for me and my family and a new chance to live again with a reason and a meaning. A lot of challenges and bad things has been happening in my life and in the life of my siblings in the past years, for example, the loss of both my parents that broke us down completely to zero, we became hustlers that we could do any job just to survive and to pay for home bills which weren’t the case before. I was lost, broken and hopeless. All my relatives run away from us thinking that we are just a burden. But now see, we are still here pushing on with life and we can still afford to live tomorrow, I thank God the He gave me you and you gave me life and were to start from and you introduced me to a group of people who even don’t know who I am but love more and more. For sure working with Meeting Point International has made me somebody today, the education that I have received and still receiving from you, Alberto and the movement is very beautiful. The new friends that I have met in the movement and in the office have changed my life and have given me joy. Now my family has met a new family that loves them. Finally, we have found a place to belong.
It was on 22/01/2020 when Anywar Richard one of the children once under the DSP support came with his mother Angwech Mary to MPI main office in Kitintale. His mother told Aunt Rose the director of MPI that her son takes too much alcohol that has made him fall sick. He was really badly off with his hands wounded and he was so weak. Angwech had no money to treat him but when she approached Aunt Rose she was advised to take Richard to Butabika hospital.
Therefore, Aunt Rose requested me to accompany Richard to the hospital. When we reached Butabika, we managed to see the doctor who asked him questions. She asked him how much quantity of waragi (alcohol) he took per day, the good thing he was open and told her everything. He said he could not count how much since he begins drinking very early in the morning until midnight and begins every day. The doctor asked him whether he smokes and he said he smokes mjanji a Tobacco for Indians. The doctor also asked him where he gets money for buying it because it’s expensive, but he didn’t give an answer. Then the doctor decided to admit him in the Alcohol and Drug unit and he accepted. When I went back to check on him after five days, there was a big change. The wounds had dried up, he was very happy and he promised me that he will never drink alcohol or smoke again. He told me that doctors counseled him well. I also got a chance to talk to the doctor and he told me that they gave him good counseling and they were very happy about his response. He was on medication and he looked very okay. The doctors were also very happy because he was helping them to carry patients who disturbed them. I Left the hospital and promised to pick him on 3/02/2020 the day the doctor suggested that he would be discharged.
Anywar poses for a photo
On 3rd 02, 2020 I went back to pick Richard from the hospital. I went with some clothes and shoes that Aunt Rose gave me to take to him. In fact, they were of great help because the clothes and shoes that he went with had been torn by the other patients (the mad people). He was dressed in the uniform of patients. When I reached there they had changed him to another ward of the patients who be waiting to be discharged. One patient took me there and when Richard saw me from a distance, he came out with a big smile and welcomed me well and showed me his hands that had completely healed. The wounds had dried completely and his body was ok. He told me he wants to go out of the hospital and appreciate Aunt Rose for what she has done for him and promise her that he will never take alcohol again. Then on that very day, he was discharged from the hospital and went to his home in Kireka, Banda B1. Therefore on the next day 4/02/2020 on a Tuesday, We had a women’s meeting in Kireka where he also joined us, knelt down before Aunt Rose and appreciated her and promised her that he will never drink alcohol or to smoke Mjanji anymore. He said he has been working in a club but he will never go back because he may be tempted to drink again. He is looking for a job in order to take care of his family. Richard has a wife and two children. He is not renting since he stays in the house of his father.
I would like to thank Aunt Rose for her efforts towards helping Richard though the rest of the society had abandoned him for his character. With Aunt Rose, he was not reduced to that and this helped him to at least understand value of his life as he even promised to stop drinking Alcohol. We hope that this awareness will stay with him forever in order for him to live a better life. However, for continued checkups, the doctors advised that I take back Richard on 3rd March so they can review him farther. I also appreciate the doctors of Butabika for the care they gave to Richard.
