Founders Corner

I grew up in a humble home full of love, joy and caring. My mother, Akiiki Grace, had me and my siblings think the other kids that we grew up with were all related to us.   She didn’t treat us different from them.

We would wonder why they had to go away during the holidays or school breaks.    The rest of us never did.  As we grew older, my mother explained to us that these were kids were orphans whose parents were ill or dead from HIV, suffering from other illnesses or they weren’t able to care for them.    They placed them in school, with other families or with other relatives.

Most of these kids dropped out of school, were married at a young age, worked on tea plantations, or worked as maids in homes.   Many of these kids were mistreated by the families they work for.   They are the last ones to go to bed because they have to clean – up after their masters.   The next morning, they are the first ones to get out of bed to prepare breakfast for these families.    All this is not because they want to, but because they don’t have a choice.    If given the chance, these children could be doctors, judges, lawyers, nurses, teachers, or anything they choose to be.

My mother taught me there is more joy in giving than in receiving.    I grew up watching my mother care for these children as though they were her own children.    My mother helped me to understand servitude.     As I grew older, I knew I wanted to follow in my mothers footsteps and make a difference in the lives of these children.      Thus, Malayika Rescue Mission was born.