Being uprooted from one’s country and separated from one’s family for 16 years can give you a certain perspective on compassion. Pepperdine University Registrar Hung Le was one of the last South Vietnamese citizens to escape on a military transport plane from the city then known as Saigon when it fell to the Communist forces in 1975. He was 11 years old, and it would be a decade and a half before he saw his family again.
Flash forward 38 years and Le has brought to America another refugee—six-year-old Victor Ngatia from Kamulu, Kenya.
Victor was born with a congenital deformity making it impossible for him to empty his bladder normally. His mother, Nancy Nduta, is a single mom who works for a nonprofit called Made in the Streets. The organization rescues poor children from the garbage heaps in Nairobi, educates them for a trade (tailoring, jewelry-making, catering and woodshop) and gives them an opportunity at life employed, literate and free from drugs and poverty.
“The children that Made in the Streets rescues live, sleep and eat on the garbage from the dumps,” Le said. “The methane that comes from the heaps keeps them warm at night. Unfortunately, many of them use drugs to blunt the pain in their stomachs from hunger.”
Unfortunately, Victor has grown too old for the Made in the Streets pre-school, and the training school won’t enroll him because of his physical condition, which requires frequent bathing and changing.
“Victor’s family lives in a 10 feet by 10 feet room with a bunk bed and no running water,” Le said. “His mother has to walk 15 minutes to a well to get water to keep him clean.”
Le and his family (wife Corinne, sons Zachary, Ben, Jaime and Garrett) accompanied their university youth minister to Nairobi two years ago in a transformative journey. Beyond the sobering reality of the poverty they discovered, they fell in love with Victor and the Kenyan community there. When Le returned to Nairobi last November, the Made in the Streets director kept referring to Victor’s “condition” as a worrisome problem.
Le had not been aware that Victor suffered from anything. He only knew Victor as a brilliant, sweet child with a particular aptitude for soccer.
“Victor’s mother didn’t know what she was going to do,” Le said. “This brilliant boy’s future would be cut short because of this medical condition.”
The Les remembered reading of Mending Kids International, a global nonprofit that provides life-saving medical care for seriously ill children all over the world. Le and Corinne applied for a grant and, with the generous contributions of locals like Gene Simmons, Tom Shadyac, and Mikke and Maggie Pierson, Victor was accepted.
They have tapped Dr. Andrew Freedman, “one of the best pediatric urologists in the world,” Le said, to take care of Victor. The Les returned to Nairobi to bring Victor back to California for treatment.
After an arduous process securing Victor’s visa, the bureaucracy came through and Victor arrived in Malibu last July. He started preliminary treatment with Dr. Freedman and enrolled as a first-grader at Webster Elementary, where he was embraced by the entire student body.
It is impossible not to smile when meeting Victor, perhaps because he always seems to sport a huge, gap-toothed grin himself, complete with dimples and a shy ducking of his head.
Victor has accepted his new adventure with surprising equanimity. He likes tennis and has visited SeaWorld. But mostly, he likes his new friends.
“Victor is intense in that he is aware of everything going on around him,” Corinne said. “The things you would think would impress him don’t so much. He loves simple things.”
When asked what he likes to do outside of school, Victor declared he loves building sand castles and chasing sand crabs. He hopes to learn to surf. When asked what is the best thing he’s had to eat here in America, the response is immediate. “Ice cream,” he said quickly.
Victor’s surgery is scheduled for early November and he will require several weeks of recovery. His mother has secured a visa to come to Malibu and care for him then, after which he is expected to return to Kenya.
“The Malibu community has been so generous,” Le said. “But we will miss Victor. He’s in our DNA now.”
People who are interested in Victor’s progress and would like to contribute to pay for his surgery, can visit the website firstgiving.com/fundraiser/hung_le/NakupendaCampaign. Also, if people would like to help with post-operative care for Victor, they may contact Hung Le at hung.le@ pepperdine.edu.
