Giving a helping hand to the less fortunate members of the society does not require riches but a compassionate heart

It is not usually out of the abundance that one needs to care for the less fortunate in the society; helping someone in need by just sharing a portion of your food, or giving out that extra tunic that you actually don’t need, or sparing a few coins for the school fees of a needy child can actually go a long way in changing the life of a less fortunate member of our society.

 Mama Mary Aurupai knows what it feels like to be cared for by someone who is not their biological parent. Orphaned as an infant, she was adopted by her aunt who raised her as her own child.

 “When I finished high school, some of my friends supported me through college and I have seen how the help given to me by others has gotten me to where I am today,” Mary told Rurugene Online News.

 Seeing young people’s lives being wasted in the streets, she decided to her in the little way she could, as such, her effort has seen a young man who had dropped out of the university completing his course and graduating from the university in Juba. Another young man whom she rescued from the street recently graduated from high school and is waiting to join the university when learning resumes in South Sudan.

 “The young man who has just completed high school was always idling on the streets near my residential place in Juba. He looked like a good boy and I felt compelled to enquire more about him, why he was on the streets and what he wished to do with his life,” Mary explained adding that the boy told him that he was brought into the city by his big brother, who recruited him into motorcycle business in which at some point he almost got killed.

 “I saw in him a boy who had a passion for studying. He was struggling with old newspapers, some books, and any other written material. Then I tried probing him more to find out what he really wanted to do and what he can do to achieve what he wants and he told me he was willing to do some little work for me and in the afternoon attend adult education program,” Mary explained adding that the boy whom she took in towards the end of 2011 managed to do well in the adult education program, went to high school and is now waiting to go to the university.

 “From my experience of reaching out in a small way to some of these children from the less fortunate backgrounds, I have realized that the majority of them tend to work harder and in most cases, they perform better than the children who are related to the owner of the house.”

 For anybody wondering who Mary Aurupai is, how rich she is that she can afford to care for other people’s children, Mary above all is a Christian, a devout Catholic who tries to live her life guided by the call of Christ to love our neighbors as our selves. She is a single mother who has struggled single-handedly to raise up her own children amid difficulties, health challenges as well as some difficult living conditions. Even though she is lucky to have a formal job, she is very passionate about farming and therefore she does practice subsistence farming in her neighborhood in Juba.

 “In our society, I feel like I am very special among the Azande Community. We have seen that life is being wasted among many of our young people. The Azandes, we lose so many young men and girls who often succumb to lifestyle diseases and in most cases, we contribute a lot to their funerals, yet some of these young people could have been saved if someone cared just a little bit.”

 The reason why she is reaching out albeit in a small way is because she is trying to make a difference in the lives of young people who would be future leaders and the generation of tomorrow. She is happy that the fruits of her generosity are being manifested in the young men and women she has taken in and mentored.

 “The young man who has just cleared high school is now talking to his peers and encouraging them to go back to school. He is always telling them that it is never too late to study,” Mary said.

 Samuel Bakuri Amudi, one of the young men whom Mary has taken care of confessed that life in the streets is very traumatizing. However, because life in South Sudan generally is not stable, with war, poverty, lack of employment by some parents, and death of parents during the war, many young people have no options but to be on the streets. Besides, there are no orphanages or charity services to care for such children. It, therefore, comes as a God-sent opportunity to be saved from the streets.

"No words can describe the kind of gratitude I owe to God and to this gracious mum who has changed the course of my life. From her generosity, I have learned a lot and my dream is to pass this generosity to other less fortunate children in the society.”

He promised to work hard so that he can contribute towards building schools and other rescue centers where young South Sudanese from the less fortunate backgrounds may have opportunities to rewrite the scripts of their lives.