06/08/2026
The photo shows Gabriel, one of six brothers and sisters who are the latest children to join the Caring for All Beings vegan orphanage family in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Having lost their mother and father, Gabriel and his siblings were looked after by their grandmother. But she recently died too. While their aunt provided a roof over their heads, she had no money to feed them and their home had no running water. They managed to beg or work on a farm for food every other day or so and wash in a river some considerable distance away.
No sooner had the orphanage taken the children than Gabriel was found howling with pain. A pre-existing injury on his face = probably a burn of some sort - had become badly infected. He was rushed off to hospital. In the photo he has just returned to his new home.
Who knows what would have happened had he not have been at the orphanage. Hospital intervention has to be paid for in the DRC and, like so many others, he had nobody who could possibly have financed his treatment.
So this part of Gabriel's story has a happy ending. Along with his brothers and sisters, he will join a loving new family and have regular and nutritious vegan meals. (Our thanks to all our supporters who have enabled us to provide funds for the daily evening meals at Caring For All Beings).
But his story is also a starkreminder of how many children around the world suffer from barely imaginable economic poverty – and of how fortunate we are in the more prosperous parts of the globe