Hi, my name is Yankuba J and I am 16 years old. My grandma's name is Adame and she is 82 years old. We need money for the doctor at the hospital to diagnose and heal Grandma Adame's legs. We do not know what the medical issue is with her legs because we do not have any money to pay for the doctor. Grandma Adame's legs are too painful now for her to walk more than a few steps before she must take a break to rest due to the extreme pain.

I am the oldest sibling in my family and I am the only male in my family. I have 3 younger sisters. My younger sisters are: Fadou and she is 9 years old. My next younger sister is Mariama and she is 5 years old. My most youngest sister is only 1 year old and her name is Ado.

Last year in 2025, our family changed forever. When my mother and father were driving back home from their jobs at work together. My mother's name was Sonna and she was 25 years old. My father's name was Ali and he was 31. Yankuba was in the hospital with his mother and father when he watched them die in front of him.

When my mom and dad died, we lived in a rental house. Now, there is no income from their work. Our family of 5 is homeless on the streets of The Gambia. Right now, Yankuba is the leader and the man of the family at only age 16. The family is homeless and living near the village of Yandum in The Gambia in West Africa. The family uses the water from the local rural village water pump tap, but the water that comes out makes the local people very sick. Yankuba spends the daylight hours collecting firewood to use for his family to stay warm during the freezing nights spent outside with no shelter and not even a tent. The family only has a blue, plastic woven matt to sleep on top of underneath the starry nighttime sky. Typically, Yankuba's family can get some free food to eat about once per week and it is one, single serving of bread per person. That only happens about one time per week.