Life's Lens

About this book

"Mattresses were unheard of in my family and blankets never existed in my immediate family's dictionary. Until Compassion International." You've seen the ads. You may have given some thought to the tragic effects of childhood poverty. You may even sponsor a child, or know someone who does. But do you have any idea, really, of what it's like to grow up in extreme poverty?Gilbert Mfitundinda does.It's not just the lack of material possessions, or walking four miles each way to bring drinking water from the river. Sleeping on a mat on a dirt floor is one thing-sleeping on an empty stomach is another thing altogether.Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world, and those who live in hand-to-mouth poverty, who have no money for health care or housing or schooling, are too often viewed as less than, as inferior. Children who grow up in this situation have no sense of self-worth. They have no hope, no idea that they might have a different life.Mfitundinda's thought-provoking Life's Lens is a clear-eyed look at a childhood in extreme poverty, and how it was transformed, little by little, through a Compassion International sponsorship. Read it and be forever changed.