Chanda

CHANDA:

I run away from him and I was just walking around not knowing where to go...
I am 10 years old. I come from a small village very far from Lusaka. Unfortunately my parents died when I was still very young, so my grandparents were looking after me. While I was there, one day, my uncle came from Lusaka and asked my grandparents if I could go with him.

When I was brought to Lusaka, my uncle started mistreating me for simple mistakes. For example: if he send me to buy tomatoes and by mistake I bought onions, he would beat me and lock me up in the house, so I don't go out.

He was beating me badly and even sometimes would tie up my hand and legs with an electric cable. Very often I was not given food at all.
Because of all of these I wanted to go to the Police, but I didn't know how to get there. I run away from him and I was just walking around not knowing where to go. Eventually I reached St. Lawrence Church, where I found people praying and I joined them. But because I was tired and in pain from beating I started sleeping.

People stopped praying. Because I had nowhere to go, I was sitting still. One man came to me and asked me what problem I had, and I explained to him what happened at home. That man did not hesitate and immediately took me to Home of Hope, where I am still now.

Here I am already going to school and I have met many friends, but I still hope that one day I will be taken back to my grandparents, to my village, because I miss them very much.