I am so happy today. The first day of work for 2024 has finished. We did not do much, as we are still recovering after the massive work we had to accomplish at the end of 2023. But we welcomed our children with love, we wished them all the best for the New Year that has begun, we discussed about their dreams for the future and about their present situation.
At HOCT, we are growing a little bit each day, and it is beautiful and inspiring. We are not in a hurry; we are not in competition with anyone. We do our part, in this forgotten corner of the world, and we hope that it matters.
Have you seen the movie “Schindler’s List”? In one of the last scenes in the film, as Schindler prepares to flee from the Allies, Schindler is given a golden ring, engraved with this quotation from the Talmud: “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”
We have worked very hard today, to finish the distribution of Christmas gifts and food items, as many children have gone on vacations. We wait for them with love and patience.
We always allow the children to be themselves in photos. If they want to smile, they smile; if they want to be serious, they are serious. A photo is just a frozen slice of time. The children are happy and grateful, they’ve had an amazing Christmas and, most of all, they felt your love.
Merry Christmas from the HOCT Family and Friends! We have resumed work today, and we did what we could, as many shops are still closed, as well as the banks on all countries.
We are so happy to work, to be with the children and to do our part in this world.
We thank all the people who feed the children and who help in so many other ways.
It has been an incredibly long, hard week for us, HOCT coordinators. We have distributed hundreds of tons of food (very literally and without exaggerating), and after having finished this task (at around 9 PM each evening) we spent other countless hours working on reporting and the distribution of photos towards the long-distance parents.
But at the end of the day, we are so happy! Children have food, toys, even meat and juice, they will prepare a good Christmas meal that will be filling and nourishing, so it was all so well worth.
I would have never thought to have so many children registered in the system, when I first started coordinating HOCT. But here we are, years later, nearing 700 children and managing to also feed about 100 others through one-time donations from HOCT’s good friends. I am happy and grateful and honored by the people’s trust. HOCT was founded on mutual confidence, and the results are showing. Needless to say, we are not perfect, and we also do our share of mistakes, but we acknowledge them, and we fix them. At HOCT, we work with love, we learn how to do things better each day, we cherish each other, and we build.
It has been an incredibly long day which is far from over 😆 We worked on delivering food and Christmas gifts to about 100 ++ children, and the next two days will be the same. Just enjoy their happiness and be glad that such kindness exists in our world.
I had my first contact with Help One Child Thrive’s main woman, Veronica, at the end of January 2021. I had seen a post of a child my friend sponsors and I asked for a contact. Little did I know that this would be the start of a beautiful journey.
Let me start by saying that Veronica was extremely patient with my fifty million questions. She explained everything to me, showed me whatever I asked for to prove the legitimacy of HOCT, and left no stone unturned.
My first child was Nankwanga Rauzati, who had just turned 4 years old. I began by sending money for her monthly food until she started school, at which point I added a bit more to her budget.
About 6 months later, another angel, Lilian Nabirye, came into my life. A 16-year old princess. No sooner had I seen her picture on the HOCT wall did I contact Veronica and offer to sponsor her too. It’s tough for the older kids, and I didn’t want her to suffer just for not being a small child.
Two years go by and my third princess, Nafisha, enters my life. Her sponsor had abandoned her, something that happens way too often, and I decided to save her.
By then Lilian had turned 18 and was thinking about her next steps. I got one final phone call from her and as much as it pained me, I had to say goodbye.
I now care for Nankwanga and Nafisha, two beautiful angels who I have the pleasure of seeing grow and progress in their lives.
They don’t always smile (I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of them smile, actually), and they don’t call every month, but I trust that Veronica and Mugoya are doing everything they can to make sure they and the other children don’t lack anything. After all, sponsoring a child is a kind act from the heart and should not come with any expectations other than the children receiving their food and education.
Over the years I’ve been able to send packages and see them enjoy their birthday parties with presents and cakes. Sponsoring a child is about knowing that you’re taking care of someone. It isn’t about phone calls, it isn’t about perfect grades, it’s about knowing that the child has a chance to live, a chance to be a part of society, a chance to have a proper childhood, and most importantly, a chance to be alive.
I try to bring in as many people as possible because HOCT is a legit EU-registered NGO that has saved the lives of hundreds of children. They built a medical centre a few years back and are now building a school.
These children lack what we take for granted: food, shelter, medical assistance, and education. A small contribution every month gives them all of these.
Today we have resumed accumulating construction materials for the roof of HOCT school, which is almost ready. The roof is expensive to make so it took us a while to fundraise and organize. And now, day by day, we will make this dream go forward.
Apart from this, we distributed a whole lot of food today. We are working since early morning. The number of kilograms is already too difficult to be computed!
Some Christmas gifts have started to be distributed.
Help One Child Thrive 