San Jose non-profit group helping to educate children in Sierra Leone
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- An accident that claimed the life of a young boy's mother and left the child injured has become a ray of hope for young people thousands of miles away in Africa.
We first told you about Abdul when he was six years old. He was injured in an auto accident when he was only three months old, ejected from a car as it overturned 13 times near Lodi. The accident took his mother's life and left Abdul with traumatic brain injury.
Abdul is now 10 years old. Over the past five years, his father has been paying forward the kindness and support he received to help similar kids with disabilities in his native Sierra Leone in west Africa, a nation where years of civil war left young people without limbs and physical therapy. A foundation has been created and bears Abdul's name.
"It feels good to help other people," said Abdul.
RELATED: San Jose non-profit group helping to educate children in Sierra Leone
The Abdul Miracle Disabled Children's Foundation supports 62 children, taking them off the streets and covering their education. It costs $150 per year to cover tuition, books and a school uniform. Some have disabilities; others do not. Many have been abandoned by their families. Abdul's father told us about how he discovered that one girl had graphic arts talent.
"If we did not take that child from that street, that talent wouldn't have come out of her, and she wouldn't also realize what she really had within herself," said Sahr Moiwa.
The foundation hopes soon to be supporting 100 kids in school. To raise funds, t-shirts are being sold for $20. A major fundraising event is set for this weekend.
If you'd like to support the program in Sierra Leone, the Abdul Miracle Disabled Children's Foundation will hold a barbecue fundraiser at Kirk Park in San Jose on Saturday, Aug. 11 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. There will be plenty of food and entertainment. Kirk Park is located at 1601 Foxworthy Avenue, San Jose.
The World Bank estimates three out of four people in Sierra Leone live on less than a dollar a day. That helps to explain why education is beyond what many families there can afford.
