A sad story - with a happy end?

Today, we start early in the morning by visiting Maranda Boys' Secondary School, one of the highest performing schools of the region, and even in Kenya. After talking to the officials of the school, I get to see our sponsored student here. When I shake his hand, I notice with concern that it is completely disfigured. I normally take each student aside in order to talk to them privately. At Maranda, we sit down under a wonderful tree and I get to talk to the boy. The boy's mother died when he was only three years old, and he says he has no memories of her. The father followed her a few years later. The boy's eldest brother was then the head of the family and apparently managed keeping the five siblings together. Unfortunately, this brother passed away last year, leaving the younger siblings in the care of a step brother. This step brother is a simple farmer who is not able to feed himself, let alone four other people. There are no other relatives alive to assist those teenagers. The boy is extremely stressed about his home. He says he is fine as long as he can be at school, but the moment the school closes for holidays, another ordeal begins. I then ask about his health whereupon he reports some problems, telling me that he was given the diagnosis malaria. When I ask him what they gave him at the dispensary in order to cure his alleged malaria, he replies that he is usually given Panadol... Malaria and Panadol - how do those two go together, honestly? I suspect the boy struggles with something else, we shall arrange for a proper health check soon. Finally I get to ask about his hand. He tells me that he was left alone in the house when he was still a toddler. He crawled into the fire and that's how he lost his hand. It is not functional, but doesn't seem to disturb him much as he elegantly uses his left hand for everything.
During such talks I often cannot believe the amount of neglect, pain, stress and trauma these children have been going through at such a young age. Yet, they somehow find the strength to carry on, just like this student of ours at Maranda who remains ambitious and really wants to fight his way out of poverty. Lets try our level best to ensure that this sad story has a happy end. It's not too late.