PISWA, UGANDA – She was coughing up blood, at least a cup every week. She could barely walk and “my heart bumped so loud everyone could hear it,” said Benna Chepkuri. By the time she was 14 years old Benna’s heart problem was so severe she couldn’t climb up the hill to go to school anymore.

“I had a heart disease that can’t be treated in Uganda,” she said, “so I prayed.” Benna would go into the garden by her house, kneel in the crops and ask God to find a way to reach into her body and heal the heart that gave her so many problems.

Benna’s father had taken her to every doctor he could find and had sold his land to pay for treatment. But nothing worked. Benna’s condition worsened. FH was working in her small village of Piswa, set on the elegant slopes of Mt. Elgon in eastern Uganda, and took Benna to see medical experts in Kampala, the capital city. But they didn’t have the equipment needed to help Benna.

"Please, God, take me out of prison," Benna sang. “This is what I would sing to God, when I didn’t know if I would live.”

Through partners and supporters of FH, Benna was flown to South Korea for open heart surgery, along with her Father and David Makhan, the FH Field Coordinator in Piswa.

“It was God’s will for me to live,” Benna says, looking calmly into the faces that watched hers. Her presence is compelling and commanding. All eyes were on this child leader.

Today, healthy, compassionate and with a determination to change her country, Benna is excelling in her studies and recently won a debate competition country wide. She will be flown to South Africa to compete in an Africa-wide debate contest. Her topic examines the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of Western aid.

Benna says she wants to be a doctor, to help other children like her who didn’t think they were going to live. She commonly shares her story with others to encourage them, inspire them, to give them hope to fight and not give up.

David Makhan calls Benna brave, her community leaders call her powerful. She calls herself a child.