Behold the DOCTOR! James Banda received his medical academy diploma in Bydgoszcz!

It is impossible to write about this event without tears of emotion. James has had to transcend himself many times over the past years to achieve what he so desperately wanted. The fuel for the journey and motivation has been given to him all these years by YOU!!! You have made his big dream come true. Everything changed in this young man’s life, thanks to you!

On a cold September day in 2014, we drove a terrified young man to Gdansk. To a city whose name he could not pronounce properly. The first year was cruelly hard for him. Getting used to a completely different culture, and discovering that the Polish education system was vastly different from the Zambian one, took a toll on him.

James hunched over his books day and night, trying to make up for gaps in the curriculum. And we assured him that he didn’t have to prove anything to us – that he wasn’t a slave to the tuition fees we paid. Even if he failed, the dreams of the other Kasisi children, for whom he was a role model and idol, would not immediately vanish and we would not stop believing in them and helping them.

In such a comfortable situation, he no longer tried to prove anything to the world – only to himself that he was capable of reaching for his biggest dream. He had matured. He began to treat his studies not as an opponent to be defeated, but as a mine of knowledge to descend into and excavate as much as he could for himself. The change he underwent began to show immediately in his exam results – each successive exam produced better and better results.

This all happened thanks to you! Thanks to the fact that you perfectly understand that the Kasisi children are not charity projects, but our children. It is the PEOPLE, their needs, desires and dreams that will always be the priority. If one of our children decides that he or she wants to be an astronaut – we will tell you here and we believe that you will help create the opportunity for them to become the first Zambian in space.

This is the age-old dilemma of charities: whether to give a little to everyone or a select few a lot. We bypass this dilemma. We focus not on humanity, but on this particular HUMAN we have met. And we want to give them everything they need. The Good Samaritan in the Gospel didn’t make calculations on a piece of paper as to whether he could have saved eight babies somewhere else with that money, he just focused on aiding whoever he came across along the way.

Thank you for doing this with us! Please don’t stop! Especially now, when, through our internal difficulties, under-balanced household budgets, inflation, fear of what is happening in Ukraine, the African continent has drifted off somewhere far away. Contributions fall and the cost of buying currency rises. We are not asking you for much, share what you can. But don’t stop.

James, CONGRATULATIONS! We are so very proud of you!