Anja Ringgren Loven traveled from her home in Denmark to Nigeria to do aid work for the children in various areas around the country.
Everything changed for her when she saw what was happening there. Superstitions often drove people to accuse young children of being witches, kicking them out to live or die in the streets. These children were often beaten and tortured as both punishment and an attempt to cure them.
Anja felt so deeply saddened and emotionally disturbed that she sold everything she had to found African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation. Her mission is to educate the people while caring for the needy kids. She realized that the superstitions were largely based on a lack of understanding within most communities.
One day, they received a phone call about a child that needed attention ASAP. In the southern nation state of Akwa Ibom, a two or three-year-old boy was found after spending eight months living alone in the streets.
An all too familiar case: his family was convinced he was a witch and they abandoned him outside to die. Anja had enough common sense to know a child that age would not survive much longer in his current state, starving and alone.
She rushed to Akwa Ibom where she found the boy in the streets extremely emaciated, bloated from an infection of worms in his stomach. He was disoriented and dazed as he was hungry and dehydrated. She gave him water before wrapping him up in a blanket and taking him to the nearest hospital.
There they treated him for the worms and gave him several blood transfusions to incorporate more red blood cells in his body. He desperately needed every treatment and Anja wasn’t going to deny him that, but she also knew her foundation could not afford to take on his entire medical bill.
At this point, she reached out to the community for help. The response was $1 million in donations from around the world. With funds and encouragement like you wouldn’t believe she could focus completely on giving the little boy a good home, education, and life.
Eight weeks later, the boy is healthy and strong. They have named him Hope as a living example of the word. He enjoys playing with his thirty-five other brothers and sisters under the care of Anja and her partner. He has gained weight and filled out well; the change is so drastic he’s almost unrecognizable.
Hope has to go back to the hospital for one more surgery. He has a genital birth defect known as hypospadias. Anja says the doctors have performed this surgery many times before so she has no doubts he will be fine and back to normal in no time.
Anja’s work is incredible as she literally saves the lives of children in Nigeria. Thank you for your sacrifice! Can you say she is a Great Hero?
Article via: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
