If you’ve ever seen old photos of concentration camp victims from World War II Nazi Germany, you’re familiar with the gaunt and lifeless stare of people who are suffering from extreme and chronic starvation. Sadly, millions of babies around the world are left to this fate, abandoned for a smorgasbord of reasons to fend for themselves, as tiny and defenseless as they are.
Imagine walking away from a two-year-old boy in the streets of Nigeria, literally leaving him to fend for himself. How such a child would even survive is astonishing, perhaps he was thrown a crumb or a sip of water here or there. But clearly it was no more than crumbs for a tiny toddler who came to be known as Hope by a Danish rescuer who found him almost on death’s door, naked and riddled with worms after eight months wondering the streets naked.
Anja Ringgren Loven, the woman in question, heads the African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation, which is why she was in Nigeria when she came across Hope. Kneeling to give him water from a bottle, his glassy-eyed and bloated appearance were the classic signs of extreme malnutrition and starvation.
That photo went viral, ultimately pulling in close to a million dollars in donations to be used towards the care of Hope, and other children like him.
When Loven asked around town about the boy, she was told his family had simply left him in the streets, saying he was a witch. How they came to such a startling and bizarre conclusion is anybody’s guess.
Thankfully, the Dane was able to get Hope intensive medical care, which he so desperately needed. That care included a complete deworming protocol, as well as massive daily transfusions of blood.
In January – one year since Loven came upon Hope – she posted a new photo, one so heartwarming and beautiful, it will touch even the coldest of hearts. We see Hope – now a healthy and vibrant-looking three-year-old boy – decked out in the cutest red-checkered shirt and matching red pants, and drinking from a bottle that Loven is holding once more. But this time, he looks like the happiest and most well-cared for child on Earth.
With a backpack and white Velcro sneakers on, Hope is off to pre-school, and if ever there was a child who lived up to his name, it is surely this darling miracle baby, who lived to see another day, thanks to the hope someone had for him at last.
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