“Kweli Asante Ya Punda Ni Mateke; I Raised Her Like My Own, But When She Became Successful, She Threw Me Out of Her House” — Woman Shares

My name is Grace, and I come from Kasese in Western Uganda. I am sharing this story with a heavy heart, not because I want sympathy, but because many people silently carry wounds caused by the very same people they devoted their lives to. 

Sometimes the people you lift are the very ones who later push you down. But sometimes, healing comes in ways you never expect.

More than twenty years ago, when I was still a young woman selling vegetables to survive, life brought a little girl into my hands. She had been abandoned by her mother at only two years old—dirty, hungry, and terrified. 

A neighbor who found her wandering brought her straight to me. The moment I bent down, wiped her tears, and held her tiny hand, something in my heart shifted. I named her Esther and decided I would raise her as my own, even though I had almost nothing.

Back then, my life was simple but very hard. Every coin I earned from selling vegetables went into feeding her, dressing her, and sheltering her. Many nights I slept hungry so she could eat. 

Many mornings I walked long distances just to save transport money that I would later use for her school fees. People whispered behind my back, wondering why I was struggling for a child who was not mine, but I ignored all of them. Esther was mine in every way that mattered.

Years passed, and she grew into a bright, confident girl. I disciplined her with love and raised her to respect people. When she finally finished secondary school and qualified to join university, I remember crying tears of joy. 

I felt like my sacrifices were finally paying off. I had no biological children then, but my heart told me that God had given me one through Esther. When she moved to Kampala after graduation and got a good job, I believed my dream had come true.TO READ MORE, TAP HERE.