Joshua

Uganda is of course not all hanging out under mango trees, quaffing gallons of delicious porridge while enjoying the beautiful countryside, and this country has had more than it's fair share of misery. 

This was Joshua, although he didn't have a name when he was found in a field by Dutch educationalist Hilda van der Draai.

His mother had died of AIDS, his father had then disappeared and his grandfather had given up on looking after him. His hands and feet were so diseased that he could not move easily or play. Hilda took him to Jenny, here seen in her tiny shop (and the only shop) in the village where I live. 

Jenny took Joshua in and saved him from a fate which probably does not merit thinking of. But Jenny was also dealing with grief of her own as one of her sons had just been killed in an accident in South Sudan. The reasons for the accident were very unclear and it was extremely difficult and expensive for his body to be brought back to Uganda.

Back in Holland Hilda asked her grandmother if she would sponsor Joshua through school and she said 'yes'. So 2 weeks ago we drove Joshua to Kidsgear, the primary school of Hoy's College for his first day of school. And here he is, having just donned his first school uniform...

Joshua is quite a character and he does not get pushed around at his new school,  for above all else he is a survivor.