INNOCENT'S STORY

My heart has been touched to the core by a young boy full of joy and happiness in spite of the challenges he has been dealt. Innocent Openjmugu is an orphan at St. Monica’s who was born without his arms and with a left femur that refuses to grow. Cognitively, Innocent is fully developed and truly has one of the happiest dispositions I have ever encountered in a child. Upon my arrival to St. Monica’s he greeted with me with a hug and the biggest smile he could manage. His personality consumed my attention for quite sometime before I realized he was armless and had a limp. After spending a couple of weeks at St. Monica’s, I have witnessed his ability to perform almost every task the other children do, draw wonderful artwork, and bring life to everyone at St. Monica’s. He abounds with enthusiasm and joy.

Sister Rosemary adopted Innocent one month ago today, December 19th. The reality of how recent the horrific life that he has suffered through is quite hard for me to fathom because he is so positive and full of love. This boy is the definition of resilient.

I will let Sister Rosemary’s Christmas story of finding and rescuing Innocent speak for itself:

This year we got a special gift of Christmas during our celebration in Paidha. We got a boy called Innocent Openjmungu. This is a special name which tells all about this boy. He is a boy who was born 6 years ago without arms. His father decided to run away from the mother with a strong conviction that the boy is a sign of a great misfortune in the family. The mother resisted and nursed him for a short time and then decided to abandon him as well. She ran away and got married to another man. She never came back to look for this boy again and up to now the boy does not know the two runaway parents.

The brother of the father and his wife got this news of the unfortunate baby, took Innocent with him and had been taking care of him. They took him to a Kindergarten near their home run by our sisters. This is how I got to know about this boy through one of the sisters who is for holidays with us. As she heard I was going to meet the children for this great Christmas celebration, Sr. Margaret pleaded that I should invite this boy to our party as well.

She called the uncle of the boy to send him to the party in Paidha about 50 kilometers away.

When Innocent arrived to the party with the aunty, all of the children welcomed him in their midst with happiness. The challenge came when children sat down to eat. It was great to see how positive this little boy was. He assured me that he can eat by himself using his right foot. He sat near me eating. I tried to make him happy but deep down I was suffering and could not eat. Tears rolled down my cheeks but I tried to hide it. He has no pity for himself; he plays and has fun with his friends.

When he noticed other children looking at him, he told them in a joking manner that it is God who created him like that.

In fact this is why his name is Openjmungu which means, “Ask God.”

Isn’t this awesome? He is great with a great sense of humor. We included him in our program of distant adoption [through Tree of Wisdom].

The next step is to find a home for Innocent because the uncle said it is very hard for him to care for him and a lot of people keep stealing him away from home taking for a show to raise money. This is the real problem facing this boy right now. He is being exploited by people. We brought him along with us to St. Monica and will hopefully send him to our orphanage. He needs a lot of protection and care. He has some deformities in the left foot which could hopefully be corrected by experts.

I am happy that the Tree can shelter special and beautiful children of God like Innocent. He has a found a new home under the shade of the TREE OF WISDOM.

Yesterday, Sr. Rosemary and I took Innocent to the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Unit near Kampala to consult with Dr. Antonio on the options for treatment of his disabilities. He preformed a physical examination, took x-rays, and had Innocent demonstrate how he functions with his foot. Dr. Antonio was nearly moved to tears when he danced with Innocent, and he was so impressed by Innocent’s detailed drawing of a car that he said he is going to frame it and hang it on his wall.  Today, Innocent was checked in at the hospital where he will stay for a few weeks in a house with Irene, a caretaker that Sr. Rosemary brought to St. Monica’s specifically to care for Innocent. The first step will be designing a shoe for Innocent with an 11 cm heel so that his hips will be even and balanced. He will remain at the hospital to undergo rehabilitation to learn to walk properly with the new shoe.

The next treatment will be implanting a leg extension into his femur that can be extended by the twist of a knob as he grows. We will receive more details on this surgery and the process during the next consultation. Eventually, Innocent will receive two prosthetic arms, one which will be functional and the other, cosmetic. Dr. Antonio is going to send the x-rays and pictures of Innocent to his colleague in Germany who specializes in child prostheses for a recommendation and a cost estimate. As I learn more about Innocent’s treatment plan and costs, I will provide the information and a strategy for assistance.

Yesterday, while I watched Innocent get his x-rays taken, I fought to maintain my composure as I thought of how radically transformed his life has been in the past month... all because of the love of Sister Rosemary. A month ago, he was being put on display as a sideshow for money, and today he sits with us at the hospital to receive medical treatment.

His is a story of despair to hope and an example of how far a little bit of love can go.