Hope & Vision Restored for Muzafaru

We've all been there as children.... you wake up one morning as your eye is clogged shut, itchy and red. Our parents groan, knowing it's pink-eye, and immediately take us to the doctors. We get some antibiotics and within a few days, we are back to school, playing with our friends without a care in the world. 

Now imagine, you're a child and you wake up with an infected eye, painfully red, draining, itchy, and your mother tells you she has no money to take you to the doctor and nothing to sell to earn money for medical care. Months go by and your vision is continuing to worsen each day. You simply must go about your day as a child while suffering the consequences of being born into poverty. 

These are the polarizing differences between the majority of children living in the Western world versus children living in rural Uganda.

​Meet Muzafaru. He is a 12-year-old boy who is in our sponsorship program.

He lost his right eye due to a severe and untreated infection for which his family had no resources to handle. He is raised by a single mother who, after the eye was lost, did everything she could to pay for a prosthetic eye for her son to not be rejected by his peers. That eye, however, was cheaply created and did not fit properly. 

​This resulted in the prosthetic eye falling out, breaking, and the boy losing his hope of appearing "normal", after already losing his eyesight. Fast forward to November 2020, when our sponsorship coordinator reached out to us after visiting his home with more sad news - his other eye was now showing signs of serious infection spread from the previous socket, which never received the correct treatment. This meant he was in danger of complete blindness if left without help.

After working tooth and nail to pay for a prosthetic, the mother again was left with no money or confidence that she could help her son get the treatment he so desperately needed. 

​Hearts & Hope promised to do all we could to save his vision and eradicate this infection once and for all. Thanks to some charitable donors, we were able to raise funds for his medical treatment in a matter of minutes. In addition, the donations allowed for the purchase of a new and professionally produced prosthetic eye, along with glasses to improve his remaining vision. Muzafaru can now go to school with his head held high and can participate in his studies fully with his improved eyesight. We are so beyond grateful for those who gave to this cause for the sake of this young boy's future. It is inspiring to witness people come together and support the needs of a fellow human 8,000 miles away - truly this is the human family in action. 

If interested in helping future emergent cases like his, you can donate to our medical fund here

Muzafaru after receiving his new prosthetic eye and glasses, December 2020.