“Teacher! Teacher! Look, Teacher!” One of my preschool students pulled on the bottom of my shirt, and pointed at a small street girl in the hallway. The girl was very young. She wore tattered clothing, she was caked in dirt, and she reeked from the smell of her own urine and feces. Her hair was matted beneath the thick braids on her head.
She looked like one of the ordinary street kids I was used to seeing wandering into the school I had been teaching in. “What’s wrong?” I asked my preschooler. He pointed to a dirty rag tied around the street girl’s arm. I pulled off the rag and was horrified at what i saw. She had a severe third-degree burn that was completely white with infection. My heart broke for this small child, and i felt so desperate to help her. My teammate Alycia volunteered to run home to find medicine to treat her with me. Her burn was so severely infected, we thought the infection could spread if we didn’t help her soon. By the time we came back with the medicine, she had run away and hid from us because she was terrified we were going to hurt her. We searched for an hour in an unknown neighborhood till we found her hiding. We found out her name is Fawn, she’s 4 years old, and she was burned because a child threw burning plastic on her as they were playing by a fire.
Everyday for three weeks, we’ve been blessed to take care of her arm. Her burn has gotten drastically better, and it’s healing more every time we see it. God has given Alycia and I such a big heart for Fawn. We’ve fallen in love with the little scowl on her face, her chubby belly, and her small hands that always reach for ours. This little street girl has touched my heart, and changed my life. Alycia and I knew we wanted to impact her life more than just treating her wound. God placed her in our life for a reason so there had to be some way we could make a difference in hers. For the first two weeks we took care of her, she wore the same ratty clothes, so we bought her a new outfit and a pair of shoes.
But that wasn’t enough for God. He has BIG plans for this child. He put it in our hearts to pay for her schooling. The reason she was burned in the first place is from being left alone on the streets all day with no supervision. If she was in preschool, she would be off the streets all day and watched by adults. She would learn English. She would recieve an education. It would change her life. And the best part, for one semester at school, it cost 30 Kwacha which is only about 4 US dollars. 4 US dollars. We did the math, and to send her, and her two older siblings to school until they graduate high school, it would cost about $300. Again, $300. Her two older siblings are 8 and 10 years old and neither of them have ever been to school. To pay for their uniforms until high school too would cost another 100-200 dollars. So to pay for an entire family to go to school until they graduate is only around 500 US dollars.
Fawn lives is a street girl who lives in a hut, but when I see her, I see beauty. I see laughter. I see innocence. I see Jesus’ beautiful daughter. I am only in Zambia for 3 more weeks, but i know God is calling Alycia and I to help Fawn and her family.
So if this story grabbed hold of your heart, I ask that you pray about making a donation to help her. Every cent donated will be used to send her and her siblings to school. If we raise extra, that money will be used to send other street kids to school.
If this story affected you, but you can not donate, please join us in prayer!
If you can donate even 5 dollars, you will pay for a semester of her schooling! So if you can and want to help, press the link to our gofundme account below to help change real lives! And send me a message, so i can send you a personal thank you!!
Thank you all!
This is sweet Fawn the day I met her. We had just bandaged her arm so she had a sad, pouty face on.
This was her burn the day we discovered it. It’s very severe and white from infection.
This was a few weeks after we started treating her daily. She’s wearing the new clothes Alycia and I bought her. She does smile occasionally, but we haven’t been able to capture that rare occasion on camera yet 😉
This is Alycia and I with Fawn and her brother, Joshua who were are also raising money for. He’s 11, super sweet, and never been to school. 
