On the 10th day of Stand Tall Christmas

We are proud to introduce Andrew

Andrew went for surgery at the same time as Nalari and David, who you got to meet earlier in the 12 days.  So why would we share his story...because we are so proud of him!

As far as spines go, Andrew’s was bad, but nothing out of the ordinary for the kind of kids we see.  His story was very similar, years in and out of hospitals, years bullied and picked on by his community, years with no hope of any future.  It’s a heart-breaking state of affairs when this becomes “normal”.

What made Andrew so different is that he was angry.  He was angry at everything and everybody.  When we sent him for surgery, he wouldn’t listen to the nurses and doctors and literally got in fist fights with other kids at the hospital.  He is the only child that we almost sent back to Tanzania without getting surgery because he wouldn’t follow his treatment plan and his bad behavior.  I called him and told him that as much as I wanted him to have surgery, if he didn’t want it and wasn’t willing to do what was required, we could give it to someone else. That day he changed.  He started following his treatment, and was in surgery 2 weeks later. I thought we had turned a corner.

Then, he went back to Tanzania.  The minute someone said something to him about his back, he was in a fight.  Keeping him in school was almost impossible because of his behavior.  Thankfully someone told us about the most amazing man, Teacher Pius, who works at Tusiime Primary School, one of the best schools in the country.  I had a meeting with him and was very honest about both Andrew’s amazing potential and his bad behavior getting him in his own way.  Pius not only helped us get Andrew admission into this elite school, but took Andrew under his wing, even allowing him to live with his own family during breaks for extra support.

Meet Andrew today.  Andrew is head boy at school, is 7th in his class academically, and hasn’t been in a fist fight in a whole year.  It truly takes an entire community to get these kids where they can excel and thanks to help of Pius and Andrew’s teachers, he is doing just that.  Today, Andrew’s fighting instinct is a gift that will continue to propel him forward.

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