Special Needs, Special Opportunity

Special Needs, Special Opportunity

We have some students whose stories Muday could not overlook when they approached the school. Muday created Fresh and Green Academy to help children who need it the most, and that is why these kids were taken into the school, even though they need more resources than normal to succeed. While many of our children suffered in their early years from malnutrition, and the debilities that come with that, several of them faced even more frightening challenges: hydrocephalus, blindness, paraplegia and emotional scars.

A boy named Yesuna was brought to the school because his mother wanted to abandon him. He had been neglected since birth after his mother could not afford to feed him. He was left in their hovel while his mother waited for him to die, and malnutrition made him blind, deaf and unresponsive. He has a severe mental disability. He is too weak to walk or even sit up. But Muday would not abandon him.

Through daily care for over 2 years, Yesuna is coming back. Turns out he is not deaf after all, and responds to music and clapping. His caregivers have applied physiotherapy methods and he now has the strength to sit up on his own. He can now communicate his most basic needs, but cannot speak.

Yesuna has almost constant attention, from his caregivers to be sure, but from his schoolmates as well! A television is kept in his room and his friends come to be with him and watch TV. And this is one of the real benefits of having these students in the community: these kids learn to build people with special needs into their own lives! Everybody lends a hand when needed.

We need your help! Can you help sponsor one of our special needs kids through the Friendship Club program? We have created a special category for this initiative and you will be sure to get progress reports from your Friend along the way.

Become a Friendship Club member!

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Fresh and Green Goes to High School

Fresh and Green Goes to High School

We are so proud of our nine Grade 8 graduates for passing their high school entrance exams! Most were in kindergarten when Friends of Fresh and Green got involved with the school 8 years ago, and we began to grow the school by a grade each year.

Running a high school curriculum is not on the books for Fresh and Green Academy right now as we try to secure the rights to the land that the school is on. But we will continue to support our graduates as they start up a new path on their journey to higher education and eventually a profession. They are such important members of our community and set a great example for the younger kids!

Our graduates will still start and end their day at the Academy with a meal, with high school classes down the road in between. But we have to pay for their uniforms and books as well as providing medical care if needed. We estimate that it will cost $500 up front for supplies and then $75 a month for each student over the course of the year.

We need your help! Can you help sponsor one of our high school kids through the Friendship Club program? We have created a special category for this initiative and you will be sure to get progress reports from your Friend along the way. If you can help us with the upfront costs as well, then great! Please make a separate donation and you’ll get a tax receipt for that as well.

Become a Friendship Club member!