Tusayiwe Mkhondya uploaded a video showing her morning routine for the 34 "children" she cares for in Malawi. A single mother since the age of 18, the young woman cares for orphans, street children and teenage mothers through the organization You Are Not Alone, which she started when she found herself alone and helpless.
Her life was just as heartbreaking as most of the children she helps. At 9 months she was abandoned by her parents, at the age of 6 she began to suffer sexual abuse and at 16 she became pregnant and she had to face her motherhood alone.
With a son, being very young and totally abandoned, at the age of 18 he created Yana and found a way to get ahead. Collaborating with other women and children who were going through the same thing as her was her way of saving herself. It is not an easy task, but it serves to change many realities, including yours.
The children at her shelter range from five months to 16 years old and she has a very exhausting routine when it comes to taking care of them.
"I always thought that the abuse I suffered was my fault because instead of fighting and screaming, I froze," she said in her account, referring to the moment she decided to change her life. It is that after a long time of internal battles she was encouraged to raise her voice. The little attention she received from her was what led her to become an activist.
On her @tusaiweyana account, she said: "Not all children are abandoned. Some are orphans, some have only one parent, some have both parents but have been abandoned by those parents." According to her, her day begins at 4:00 a.m. and from that early on she prepares all the food for the children, including sandwiches, hot dinners and juice boxes.
“I am the only one who cooks for the children under the age of 5 and each child has their own morning chores, they all help to prepare the food,” she explained. When the day ends she is actually when she lives her most intense moments: "The children go to bed at 7:00 p.m., but the night shift really begins at that moment, since many babies wake up to drink milk" .
“I have to feed them and also change their diapers. At the same time, take advantage of that moment to also start the work for the next day”.
His goal, beyond giving him a place to eat, sleep and bathe, is to provide young people and children: "Education, empowerment, empowerment and skills."
Despite being only 23 years old, she dreams big for her NGO. It is that at present, she and the 34 children live crowded together in a three-room house: "Once we have the land, I hope we can build shelters this year to be able to receive and help more abandoned children, and children who live in the streets".
