This little 11-year-old girl arrived to Vima Lupwa home extremely malnourished and neglected.  Mwape came to us through the social-welfare office after it was discovered by a local clinic that she was being sexually abused by her father and members of her community. When just 3 months old she was diagnosed with Cerebral Malaria which caused a mental handicap. 

Mwape also suffers from epilepsy.  Since she had seizures the men in her community thought she was mentally handicapped and took advantage of her.  She has never had healthy interactions with people.  It is difficult to get any information from her because she was never taught that rape was wrong, but rather that it was part of everyday life. So far she has told us about 4 different men that would take her into the forest to rape her.  The way she describes it is very violent.

More stories are coming as she feels safer in our home.  She is making improvements every day:  we were able to put her on medicine for her seizures, from which she was suffering up to three times a day.  They have now decreased to about once or twice a week, a major improvement indeed!

We were concerned after hearing from her village that Mwape had cerebral malaria as a child. We had her recently examined by a medical profession and she was diagnosed mentally handicapped. There is lots of hope for Mwape now that she is in our care and will receive the best opportunities we can find for her. A local teacher has been hired to come daily and teach her life skills and some academics. She is actively working on her ABCs and counting. 

Never having gone to school before, she is learning the daily obligation of washing, getting dressed and staying focused in her lessons.  Her laugh is contagious and keeps all the kids and teacher consistently entertained. She participates in the nightly routine of singing and clapping songs while dancing around the room with the other children.  She has so much joy and hope.