By Nathan Eyagu 

A mother’s love, a child's longing, and an untold story of abandonment—this is the painful reality that Joyce Chebet Fatuma lives with every day.

With tears in her eyes, Joyce recounts the day her Chinese lover vanished, leaving her devastated and pregnant with their child. She was just one week into her pregnancy when he disappeared, leaving behind nothing but empty promises and a shattered heart. The moment he left marked the beginning of a harsh, lonely journey for Joyce, one where survival meant more than just getting through the day—it meant holding onto hope, even when life seemed impossible.

“When Chan was very young, I had no choice but to sleep in the church with him. Life was unbelievably hard, but I placed everything in God's hands. That’s how we started—no home, no family, just faith. It’s been the same ever since. You work from dawn till dusk, only to be paid Ugx 1000. At that time, I had no roof over my head. We survived on street water, and yet I never gave up,” she says, her voice trembling with the weight of her struggles.

But even in the midst of all this hardship, Joyce never gave up on her son. With the support of kind-hearted strangers, Kiplangat, the little boy who never knew his father, was given a chance at education. Today, he’s a bright, ambitious student at Joshua Cheptegei Junior School, where he’s preparing for his Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).

Against all odds, Kiplangat has become a beacon of hope, leading his peers as the head boy. He is a disciplined, hardworking boy, and those around him believe he’s destined for greatness.

“He is a very disciplined, hardworking boy,” says Isaac Kwemboi, the headteacher of Joshua Cheptegei Junior School. “As his headteacher, I am confident that he will be among the top candidates when the PLE results come out.”

But behind his leadership, behind the smile that lights up his face, there’s an ache that runs deeper than anyone can see. Kiplangat’s heart longs for the father he has never known. "I really want to meet my dad," he says, his voice barely above a whisper. “It hurts when I see other kids with their fathers. Why did he leave me?”

In the quiet of his room, Kiplangat clings to the only piece of his father he has—a necklace his mother says was given to her by his father before he disappeared. It’s all he has left, and it’s enough to keep his hope alive.

For Joyce, the pain is just as raw. Every day, she watches her son struggle with the absence of a father, and the memories of a love that was never meant to last weigh heavily on her. All she wants is to see the man who once promised her a future, to give Kiplangat the chance to know the father he deserves.

"I don’t want my son to grow up feeling abandoned," Joyce says softly. "I want him to know his father. He deserves to know why his dad left and what happened to him. It’s not just about me—it’s about Kiplangat’s heart."

This is not just a mother’s plea—it’s a cry for healing, for closure, and for the man who walked away from a life he helped create to come back and face the child who still longs for him.