Page 1

“I don’t like chicken!!” complains Tim as his mom places dinner on the table. He pushes it away. “I won’t eat it!”

“We're all having chicken tonight. You will eat it or go hungry,” replies Tim's dad. "I will not have you acting like this every evening!"

“I'd rather go hungry than eat this.” says Tim as he puts his head down on the table.

“Then go to your room without your supper,” his dad says while rolling his eyes toward the end of the table at Tim's grandmother, Nana. “That child is hopeless.”

“There is always hope,” comments Nana as she quietly follows Tim out of the room.

Page 2

As Tim storms away from the table and heads to his room, he passes the pantry that is stuffed with food. It has everything from three types of apple sauce, to five kinds of cereal, and even four flavors of chips. Under his breath Tim mumbles, “If we have so much food, why can’t I have want I want to eat?”

Tim doesn’t see her, but Nana and her old English sheepdog, Tennie, are standing right behind him as he peers into the pantry.

Nana decides to finish dinner and help with the dishes before she goes to have a talk with her grandson.

Page 3

Peeking around the doorway into Tim’s room, Nana sees Tim carefully putting together one of his model trains. Although he has build a nice design with is track, Tim has cars, planes, and books thrown all around his room.

Following Nana upstairs, Tennie pushes the door open with her nose, bounds over to Tim and begins licking his face with her sloppy wet tongue.

“Get away, Tennie!” shouts Tim. “Who let you in?”

“Now Tim, please don’t take out your frustrations on Tennie,” says Nana as she enters and sits on Tim’s bed.

“Nana, will you play with me?” asks Tim.

“I think I’d rather tell you a little story,” replies Nana.

“OK.” agrees Tim as he climbs up on his bed and cuddles up to Nana.

After Tennie circles around a few times she drops on the floor on top of Nana’s feet ready to hear the story.

Page 4

“In a small Malawian village there lived a young boy who was called Kapangama. Now Kapangama was not his real name. His real name was Samuel, but everyone in the village of Kapenda thought that Samuel was hopeless, so they all called him Kapangama.

His mother left him right after he was born, so his father married another woman. All the villagers knew that the new wife would not want to keep Kapangama. They knew that it was hopeless for him. He was the hopeless one – Kapangama.

His mother was gone. His father’s new wife didn’t want him. Kapangama could not even go to live with his grandparents because they were already dead. Since there was no other place for him, it was decided that he would go to live with his step-grandmother across the corn fields.

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Life for Kapangama was not easy with his step-grandmother. He was given very little food and he was forced to sleep out with the cows and sheep.

Kapangama’s step-grandmother was cruel to him. He felt that he could not live with his step-grandmother any longer. So when he was only 6 years old, Kapangama decided to run away.

Page 6

Kapangama had no other place to so, so he just lived on the streets. Slowly Kapangama traveled down the mountain to Karonga, a town by Lake Malawi. He found that living on the streets was even worse than living with his step-grandmother. Kapangama could not find food, and he had no place to sleep except on the ground. Although he thought it might be better to go back to his step-grandmother’s house, he knew he could not go back.

Kapangama’s life was so hard that he did not know why he had been born. He said to himself, “Even if there is hope inside me, the world is too big. The burden is too big. There is no reason for me to continue living in this world. It is better for me to die. I should be done with my life.”

Page 7

So when Kapangama was 9 years old he went to dip tank, a large concrete tank filled with poison. Animals were “dipped” into the tank to kill ticks and diseases that were on them that could be transmitted to other animals. Kapangama took the poisoned water from the dip tank and drank it. After walking just a few meters he fell to the ground.

Page 8

Three ladies who were passing by saw Kapangama on the ground. They realized that he was dangerously sick so after giving him some milk, they took him to the hospital.

The doctors at the hospital were able to save Kapangama’s life, but when it was time for him to leave the hospital he still had no place to go except back on to the streets. Kapangama thought, “It would have been better for me to die than to have to go back hungry and alone on the streets.” He didn’t know why the women had bothered to take him off the street.

Page 9

It is difficult for children to live on the streets without the security of a mother or a father. They have to always be searching for food. Kapangama’s body was wearing away by this time because he had so little to eat.

Sometimes adults passing by would throw bread or small coins to the street children. To Kapangama this was just the adults’ daily entertainment. They would laugh as the street children would fight and run after the bits of bread or coins dropped on the ground. There was no one who seemed to really care, until one day when a man approached Kapangama and warmly embraced him. Kapangama was shocked. He did not know what the man wanted from him.

The man asked, “What is your name?”

“My name is Samuel Kayuni.”

“Where do you live, Samuel?”

“I live anywhere.”

The man was overwhelmed with kindness and asked Samuel, “Do you mind if I take you off the streets?” Samuel could not believe what he was hearing. The man added, “I am not prepared right now because I didn’t talk to my wife. I just feel that I should take you off of the street. I am going to talk to my wife and then I will be back.”

Page 10

After the man left Samuel told the other boys what had happened and what the man had said to him. The other boys just laughed, “You know he is only playing with you.” Samuel could tell that the boys did not believe that the man would really come back.

Samuel fell to the ground crying, “Does this man know what I am going through?” Samuel felt as if he was the most rejected person in the world. He was truly the most hopeless one the Kapangama. Samuel cried out, “How can this man say these words to me?”

Page 11

About a half hour later the man did return. He smiled at Samuel and said, “Samuel, you are going to be my son.”

He took Samuel to his home. With his wife, the man took Samuel’s clothes and gave him new clothes. When they told Samuel that they were taking him to his room, he thought of his room at his step-grandmother’s house with the cows. However, this time he was taken to a room inside the house with a real bed.

The man and his wife made sure that Samuel received an education. Most of the time, Samuel went to a boarding school. Because Malawi doesn’t have many good secondary schools, Samuel had to travel to another town to go to school. These were good times for Samuel. He was bright and learned easily.

Page 12

When it was time for Samuel to go to college, he decided to travel outside Malawi to South Africa for school. One day before he left Malawi, he was walking on the street and remembered his past and all that had happened to him.

Samuel felt a stirring inside his heart. He knew that he had been picked from the streets so that he could help other starving children around Malawi. Samuel knew the struggles of the street were real. He knew that when children are on the street they have no idea where food will come from. They have no blanket at night even when it is cold. Samuel remembered. He didn’t know how he could help other children on the streets, but he dedicated himself to finding a way.

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"Nana, I don’t want to live on the streets. Will I ever have to?” asks Tim.

“No, Tim. I don’t think you will ever have to live on the streets. But not ever little boy or girl in the world has what you have.”

“Did Samuel ever find a way to help the children on the streets?”

“Yes, when Samuel finished college he found a way to rent a house in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. He hired a few people to help him and he took seven children off the streets. A few months later, Samuel traveled back to Kapenda, his home village, and brought back 8 more children who had no one to care for them. Throughout the next few years, he added to the family with an additional ten children.”

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“I feel sorry for those orphans,” Tim sadly replied.

“Oh no, Tim! These children are not orphans any longer! They now have a family. They will have this family for the rest of their lives. They have all of the hope any other child has because now they are loved. Samuel understands how important it is to have a loving family. He is dedicated to making a real family for his children.”

“Nana, I have not been very nice to Mom and Dad.”

“No, Tim, you have not been. Your mom and dad love you. It is important for you to listen to them and allow them to teach you.”

“Nana, Samuel has 25 children. That is a lot of kids!”

“Yes it is, and Samuel even wants to help more children. Maybe we can think of some ways we can help Samuel to help the children in Malawi. Would you like to do that?”

“Yes! I will go ask Mom if we can send them my chicken from dinner!”

Epilogue

Epilogue

The children in Malawi cannot use your leftover dinner, but there are ways you can help children in Malawi and throughout the world.

Samuel’s children are bright and hard working young people. Many of them have succeeded in earning top scores in their classes and want to someday reach back into their own country and help others. Steven, one of the children said, “If I was at my village, I could not ever get the top position in my school because I was never encouraged to go to school.” Another child, Ruth, said,” I would like to help people who are in need. There are more children like me. Their lives are doomed because of different reasons. I will try to help because I was helped.”

A Tanzanian leader who had traveled to Malawi said that of all the places he had visited, Samuel’s home, named Children of Hope and Destiny (CHAD), was the only place where he had seen children with hope. The children belong. They do not live in an institution. They live in a home.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. HIV/AIDS brings much hopelessness to children and families. Many parents have died and continue to die because of this sickness.