Some of our children study at Victory School, so today we went to visit them.

Just enjoying the mood ❤

Work lovingly accomplished by Veronica Anghelescu and Mugoya Swaliki
Media by Mihaela Florentina Stoica

A lot of things happened today at HOCT.

We visited our children at their respective schools, we distributed food and we updated some of our technology.

Life is beautiful at HOCT.

I received an email with an interesting question, so I thought I’d write a bit about it.

The person was asking: so what do you do at HOCT? How does HOCT even function?

At Help One Child Thrive (HOCT), we pair each person willing to help to a child in need. We have many, many children on the waiting list, so there is always someone you can help.

Usually, people take a long-time commitment (1-2 years at least) and become “long-distance parents” developing a true bond of affection with their child. We facilitate phone and video communication, letter exchange and we provide monthly updates of the child’s progress. People see their children as often as it is humanly possible, and many children call the sponsors “mother” or “father”.

How much does it cost? This is a frequently asked question. Now of course, us being a charity, we cannot fix prices. Each person donates according to their own possibilities. However, a minimum of 25 euros per month offers a good batch of food to the child in your care.

I usually pick the food items and my colleague, Mugoya, buys and distributes them. HOCT is coordinated by us two, with love and patience and a lot of hard work. We never take days off and we are always present to help the children and to answer the sponsors’ questions. We deal with all the legal aspects of our work and we always make sure to comply to all international regulations.

What else?

You can help a child for a longer period of time, or to offer a one-time donation. You will receive the same feedback as anyone else: a photo with the child receiving the food from you and a small letter of gratitude, which the children love to write (and we encourage them, because we must all practice gratitude).

In our work, we are blessed to see the good side of humanity each day. If you want to see a bit how life is at HOCT, you can send a one-time donation through PayPal at: contact@helponechildthrive.com, or via our IBANS. If you want to use Revolut, I can help you with some instructions.

How can we be reached?

By Email: contact@helponechildthrive.com

By Facebook, my profile is public and Facebook-verified. You can send a message through there or a Friend-Request, I do not mind.

Also on Facebook, you will find our official page, Help One Child Thrive.

If you need me, I am at your service!

Choose to do well and feed one child!

With love,

Veronica

It’s been a long week… but we work with love.

It was a long, complicated day at HOCT. My mind was also rather scattered, I could not focus well. A little bit of burn-out accumulates.

We worked on many children, some of which have various malformations. Joseph Bumba has a very oddly-shaped skull; little Kato has a deformed spine and his whole body is like a ball; Igalo suffers from sickle-cell disease and is very weak; Kitimbo is the girl whose life we saved when she was suffering from macrodactyly (you remember? She had two huge fingers!).

Those types of malformations are often occurring; I don’t really know why. I presume that the environmental factors, the polluted water, the poor nourishment of the pregnant women – all of these contribute to the birth of such children.

But I love them nonetheless.
Few are the brave people who accept to take care of a sick child. Over the course of our long activity, we sometimes lose some of them. It crushes me every time. I hope we will have no more losses and that all those little ones will have a good, comfortable life, with nourishing food and plenty of love from us.

We should never give up trying to heal our wounded world.

To see them happy and well – this is all the reward I ever need.

I need to remember this more often, especially on days like these, when I arrive home late from my work and I start my second work…

I have had a beautiful day, filled with good news, balanced activities from all sides, and good friends pouring their energy into beautiful acts of kindness.

I am tired, hungry and my head hurts a bit but we fed 30 children today, we nurtured 3 more back to health, and we are resting in the contemplation of the people’s kindness.

It’s a good day.

Work lovingly done by Veronica Anghelescu and Mugoya Swaliki

Lovely media by Mihaela Florentina Stoica

Everlasting kindness by #hoctfamily

What a rich day of work has it been! We’ve accomplished so much. Sometimes, no more words are needed. Our work speaks for itself.

Work lovingly done by Mugoya Swaliki and Veronica Anghelescu
Media by Mihaela Florentina Stoica
Love by HOCT Friends and Family