Jespa's Journey



Please note that this is an old page that was activated because ABC7 has this particular link on their page.
Funds from both campaigns will help with Jespa's expenses during his stay in USA. Thank you for helping.#GoBeyondGiving

·     Living expenses for Jespa and his guardian while he is in the U.S. (rent, food, etc.)

·      School expenses for him to attend high school.

·      Clothing, shoes, and other basic needs where needed.

·      To aid his morale during the long recovery process, we’d also like to give Jespa the opportunity to have experiences such as going to movies, the zoo, a sporting event, a theme park, etc.

**************************************

This is the story I wrote the very first time I saw Jespa’s picture. It's amazing to look back and see his progress.

Written August 13, 2012.

"Is this story really sad or do I have a marshmallow for a heart?

Ngong Jespa is 12 years old and a son of a single mother, Lustina, who is a farmer. At the age of about 10 months old, his parents left him with his brothers and sister who also were children to go to the farm. There was a big fire in the kitchen where the baby was sleeping set up to dry newly harvested corn (Imagine a flaming hot camp fire except inside a small building). While the parents were at the farm, the younger ones went off to play leaving baby Jespa alone in the kitchen with the blazing fire and heat. When they remembered to check on him, he was in the flames. They tried to drag him out of the fire but not being old or strong enough, they could not pull him out. They ran out, cried out to the neighbors for help. When the mother and father finally came home and rushed him to the nearest health Center which was miles away, he had sustained third degree burns. Unfortunately, Health Centers are not equipped to deal with such severe burns and his parents did not have money to take him to a better hospital for further treatment. The father died soon after, bringing any hope of helping Jespa to an apparent end. He has bravely attended school for the past six year and is in class 6 at C.B.C primary school Chucku. It will be wonderful to not only help him educationally but medically. If you know any doctors/organizations that might be interested in this case, please forward this to them or contact us...

CURRENTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING:

Rashel Merenesswho is one of the main reasons Jespa has come so far in his Journey wrote thefollowing and we decided to create this account for all those willing to helpJespa. Thank you Rashel and Jespa's supporters. 

"It's hard tobelieve this year has flown by so fast. It was just last October when Jespaarrived in the US as a quiet young boy, badly wounded and unable to use hisright arm. Now, thanks to the support of all of you, Torrance Memorial Hospitaland the Children’s Burn Foundation, he's an outgoing teenager who can ride abike and play basketball. He's even learning piano as part of his therapy. He,and we at Plant a Seed, cannot thank you enough.

As many of you know, The Children's Burn Foundation has generously provided thefunding for all of Jespa's surgeries for his hand and arm, skin grafts, eye andnose reconstruction, and hairline expanders, totaling over $100,000 and allaccommodations in the US for the past year. Dr, Matthew Reiss generouslydonated his services and Torrance Memorial Hospital provided the facilities atgreatly discounted rates.
 
Jespa hasconcluded all the necessary surgeries and usually, children return home aftersuch an extensive surgical schedule. However, Dr. Reiss has identified a few additional procedures andrehabilitation work that would help Jespa regain even more use of his arm. Inaddition, Jespa has enrolled at Arena High School for this year until he can transfer to El Segundo High School hopefully in the fall. While Jespa couldreturn to Cameroon now, we feel that with all of the effort and funds that the CBF,Torrance Memorial, and Dr. Reiss have invested to date, we’d like to help Jespafurther overcome the disadvantages he’s faced so far by helping him finish hiseducation in the US and continue his rehabilitation at state of the artfacilities. If you’ve met Jespa, you know that he is an amazing young man. Hissmile in infectious and we know that he has the potential to go on to amazingthings. We want to give him all of the opportunities we can.

The Children’s Burn Foundation has again so graciously agreed to assist Jespato get accepted to Shriners Hospital for any future burn care needs and Jespawill continue to be part of the programs that are offered by CBF.  We are eternally grateful to CBF for helpingJespa in his recovery.

But at this timewe are reaching out to those of you who have supported Jespa's Journey to helpus fund his continuing stay in the US for the next year, until he is 18 andbetter able to support himself.
Our goal is to raise $1500 every month for the next six to eight months for food, rent, transportation and insurance.

Ruth Akumbu has been an amazingly gracious host for Jespa, bringing him intoher home as if he were family. But Ruth is a full-time student and does nothave the financial resources to support Jespa on her own. Jespa's guardian,Rebecca (Ruth's sister, who legally adopted Jespa so that she could help himhere in the US) is currently applying for a US work permit, but cannot legallywork for the next few months until it is approved. She's a law student, soplease keep her in mind if you hear of open positions!

We cannot do this on our own. Will you support us as we help Jespa through this next phase of his journey?  #GoBeyondGiving

Please note: gofundme keeps a small percentage of all donations for their services.