I’ve blogged about Sammy before. He used to live near Lucy and Selina in Shimolatewa slum. I first met him this summer we saw how skinny and malnourished he was so we had been bringing him Plumpy Nut to help him get to a healthy weight. 

Sammy in the summer with a face full of Plumpy Nut

        His family has had a rough year. He had an older brother named Dennis who was three years old who passed away from starvation in April

Dennis

On top of that, Sammy’s parents both drink heavily and their relationship has been very back and forth. Halfway through the summer his father, Matthew, threw Sammy and his mother Vivian out of the house.  Vivian and Sammy had been staying with friends and would occasionally be in Shimo. Matthew disappeared and we hadn’t seen or heard from him since. 

Vivian and Sammy

Today we were going on our weekly rounds to deliver some food and we saw Sammy just sitting outside of one of the houses. We got closer and saw that he was filthy, with flies and snot and drool all over his face. He was just sitting there screaming and crying with nobody seeming to notice or care. We asked the neighbors to find out why this little 8 month old was just sitting all alone. We found out that Vivian had left Sammy with his father and left town. Last week, Matthew dumped Sammy outside where they used to live in Shimo and hasn’t been back since. One of the neighbors, Selina’s mother, has been taking him into her home to sleep at night. She gives him what little food she had left after feeding her own five children.

 After we came back around the corner from talking with the other neighbors we didn’t see Sammy. We asked where he went and one of the kids said that he went crawling down the road and almost got hit by a motorcycle. So we went and brought him back and told them to make sure that he stayed out of the road. Since his father was not around and it was too late to go to the chief’s office, we had to leave Sammy in Shimo for one more night. 

Little Sammy sitting in the road

Tomorrow we are going to pick him up and take him to live at the baby house. He will get good meals, clean clothes, a warm place to sIeep and feel love for probably the first time in his life. If Sammy’s story has touched your heart and you would like to commit to supporting him monthly please send me an email at sammyhammork@yahoo.com. 

Please keep Sammy in your prayers.