Changed Lives

Maggie’s Story

I finished high school in 2001. My parents didn’t have money to send me to college, so I got a job working as a gas station attendant. During my first year on the job, I fell in love with a man who promised me a bright future. In 2003, I became pregnant with his baby, quit my job and moved in with him. Things were easy for a few months. Our baby arrived healthy and we were both happy. But, shortly after that, things took a turn for the worse. I discovered that my boyfriend was in a relationship with another woman. In 2004, he abandoned me and our 5 month old baby.

For the next 5 years, I raised my daughter alone. I had no income and only a small amount of money from handouts to try to survive. I started selling second hand clothes door to door, but rarely made enough money to get past our daily needs. We struggled every day.

In 2006, I got a job in a supermarket and from there, life changed a bit. I began attending church and making new friends. But, in December of that same year, my mother became ill with cancer and I left my job to care for her. Only a few shorts months later she passed away, leaving me with the full responsibility of caring for my little brothers.

I was at a very desperate time in my life. Our church began taking volunteers for a new ministry and I offered my time as a way to fill my days with something meaningful. This was not a paying job and I was the only one in the congregation who was willing to do it for free. The CHF program was just forming and I began my work with them translating children’s interviews into English.

That was the beginning of something amazing in my life. Through that ministry I met Cammie, a woman who saw me so much greater than how I saw myself. She poured her finances and, most importantly, her love into me and since that time God has overturned my life. I attended and graduated college, married a wonderful man and am currently working a paid position in the same office I began volunteering with! We own a home, have four healthy children and take care of the needs of our niece and many other children who need a safe place to stay. God has turned my mourning into laughing and poured out blessings on me day and night. I am so grateful for CHF because God has used it to make my life new again and to transform me into a person that has hope for tomorrow.

—Maggie

CHF Social Worker, Uganda