A Note From Shilla...
I love being part of WellSpring. I love being with everyone, living together as a family. I love how they are keeping us and teaching us about Christ. I never used to go to church but here we are able to go to church. I Am able to learn through my friends doing chores and I enjoy how we share and love one another.
General Information
Birthdate: 08/06/2012
Current Age: 12
Move In Date: 10/28/2023
Hobbies: Music & Singing
School/ Education
Current Grade: 4
School: Kamuchanga Primary School
Favorite Subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Local Language
We are deeply grateful for how the Lord used a kind stranger to help guide Shila to WellSpring. As a single orphan, Shila had no stable place to call home and was living without consistent love, nutrition, or access to education. Her vulnerability was clear, and her needs were urgent. Through God’s providence and the care of others, Shila has now found safety, support, and a path toward healing and growth at WellSpring.
Shila – A Story of Rescue, Hope, and New Beginnings
In early 2023, a woman named Astridah Mambwe, a vegetable vendor at Kamuchanga Market, noticed a quiet, determined little girl named Shila. Only 11 years old, Shila would come to the market with small bundles of vegetables—often worth less than K5—hoping to earn enough for school supplies or a bit of charcoal for her home. She lived nearby with her father in an abandoned, unfinished building.
As the market women got to know her story, they learned that Shila’s mother had passed away, and her father, struggling with illness and poverty, couldn’t care for her properly. Shila was the youngest of four sisters. Two had been taken in by different families, and one—crippled and crawling for lack of a wheelchair—was at a special needs school far away. Shila had been left behind, with little support or safety.
What concerned the women most was that Shila and her father were sleeping together on the floor in the only blanket they had. Fearing for her well-being, Astridah and other women from the market met with her father and agreed to take Shila into Astridah’s home—welcomed as one of her own, with the blessing of both the father and grandmother.
When the WellSpring team learned about Shila, we stepped in immediately. A visit to her extended family confirmed the deep vulnerability surrounding her. Her grandparents—both disabled and living in a cramped, two-room home with nine others—were unable to care for her. Her grandfather, paralyzed and without a wheelchair, crawls on the floor. Her grandmother, also lame, uses crutches to move. Her father, now battling tuberculosis, has no steady work.
Shila is now safe at WellSpring.
She’s attending school, has her own bed, nutritious meals, and the loving care every child deserves. Her smile has returned, and her future is no longer defined by poverty or danger—but by possibility.
Because of your support, Shila is no longer invisible. She is thriving.
We are grateful for donors like you who make this kind of rescue possible. Your generosity brings life-saving change—not just to Shila, but to many other children like her.
