Hope | In Memory of the St. Jude Children

Joy Ngoma is a student at TSU and majors in TV/Radio Broadcasting and Africana Studies. She has a great interest in documentary films and works with issues that address social injustice. She writes and produces for TV shows. The granddaughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, she lives with her mother, Naomi Tutu, and two siblings, Mungi and Mpilo, in Nashville and visits South Africa once a year for holiday.

Hope is when I awake,

my body in pain, and

I know that my heart is still beating.

Hope is when I feel so sad,

unable to get out of bed, and have a deep feeling

that the next day the sun will shine again, and

I shall put on a smile on my face.

Hope is when the doctors tell me,

my illness has escalated, and

I touch my sick body and tell it, it is healed.

Hope is when people tell me

the doctors have no hope I will survive

I then touch my heart and feel it beating.

Hope is when I wish I could play with

other kids my age, and

I can feel my spirit talking to my mind,

I know Hope is me.

Hope is every fighting vein in my blood

Hope is when I fight for survival and

Hope that they will find a cure.

Hope brings me sunshine

Hope is my best friend

Hope is the angel that holds my hand

When I have nightmares

Hope is my heart that beats every second of every minute.

So the next time you tell me there is no Hope

touch my heart, you will feel Hope.

Hold my cold blue and sickly hands

Hope shall embrace you too.

Hug my little deteriorating body, then

you shall realize, there is Hope.

I am Hope

Hope is me…

Hope is my heart that is still beating

Hope is me.