Gift of a Bed (Digital download)

How your gift has helped Laughter Africa children in the past:

Agu is a mumu boy meaning he can't hear or speak. Mumu people are laughed at and treated horribly by society. After living on the streets for five years, we reunified him with his mum and supported him through two and a half years of carpentry school. We are proud to say that Agu graduated with flying colours in December 2019.

We bought him tools at the beginning of February 2020. When we gave him the tools he showed us how to use each and every one. He was so excited. He tried to set up his own business in his village in Lunsar. Sadly, when we visited him in July 2020, we found that Agu’s business was badly affected by Coronavirus. Even before Covid-19, there was not much need for a carpenter in his village. However coronavirus completely decimated the little business that he had cultivated. He and his family in Lunsar wanted him to travel back to stay with family in Waterloo. However, we were dead set against this as that family were one of the main reasons why he ended up on the streets in the first place. They used to exploit Agu and made him go out on the streets to collect scrap metal for them for small money.

Thankfully, one of our social workers knew of a carpentry shop nearby his house which means that he can keep an eye on Agu. This carpentry shop lets their staff live on the premises in a comfortable house. Agu moved there at the end of July 2020. For three years Agu has used their workshop. He is letting his talent speak for itself. Anything that Agu sells, he keeps the profits. For anyone who knows Agu- they know that he never smiles. I noticed that in every photo we have taken since he moved to Freetown, he has a big smile on his face. The expression a smile is worth more than a thousand words has never been truer in Agu’s case. We can’t wait for Agu’s business to start to grow. All his life he has been belittled and mocked but he has never let it get him down, he keeps on going with his head held high and with his infectious enthusiasm in place. When Agu moved to Freetown, we bought him a bed.

In October 2022, we relocated our mobile project to Grafton. We didn’t expect so many street children and needed extra seats in a hurry so we contacted Agu whose carpentry shop happens to be in Grafton so we paid for him to make us some new benches. He was delighted to help us out! Here's a video of him hard at work making the benches for us