Send Simon to School

Last Thanksgiving I left my job, said goodbye to my friends, family and my beloved Colorado, and moved to Malawi "“ a country most people cannot place on a map. I made true my childhood dream of helping infants in Africa, and I am now a full-time Consultant Pediatrician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre. With poor resources and overwhelming number of children who need help, my work can be challenging, and often frustrating, but I feel truly blessed to be able to live my dream.

In the true spirit of Thanksgiving this year, I would like to ask for your help.

The first few months settling into a new job, and a new country, was one of the most difficult hardships I had to overcome. Luckily, I was helped by a warm and generous woman named Alice.  Having raised three children, Alice, now takes in several of her relatives' children and that is how I met Simon.  Simon is Alice's grand-nephew who came to live with her after his mother could no longer care for him.    In fact, Simon was one of the first children I treated when he became ill and was hospitalized with typhoid fever. With medical bills to settle, Alice could no longer afford to send Simon to school.

 In return for the help that Simon's family gave me during my first few months, I want to return the gratitude by giving Simon the gift of education. Out of my own pocket, I have enrolled him into a local Catholic School, which offers standards on par with the West. He is a bright young child, who has transformed from a boy who, out of his family's financial desperation, spent his days playing alone in the dirt to now a proud student who lights up his classroom. My favorite part of the day is spending the evenings with this excited young boy who is eager to learn.

I know that all the kids I see and treat here in Malawi deserve better health, and a better education, but in Simon, I see a little bit of myself, where if it were not for the help and generosity of others, I would never have received the education, and become the doctor I am today. As a pediatrician, who sees desperately ill children every day, I need someone like Simon to remind me that these children can still go grow up, get a good education and follow their own dreams. I'm not asking for much, but any small donation can help give my Simon a better future, and help me say thank you to a family who helped me settle into this wonderful country, and help as many sick children as I can.