In 2017, Australian school teacher and miracle worker, Trishelle Grady, left her Ugandan charity and returned to her home of the Gold Coast to give birth to twins and I sat down to capture her story. Still to this day, Trishelle looks after more than 100 local Ugandan children through her charity 100% Hope, a venture born from a dream to help some of the world's most vulnerable children.
The vision began in 2006 when she was studying to become a teacher. "I had a dream about starting a village for children. My dream was so vivid; it was pitch black with a pin-prick of light on the horizon. As I started walking towards the light, everything went grey and there were dead bodies surrounding me, so I continued towards the light. I was confronted with huge gates that read 'CITY OF HOPE.' When I pushed open gates, death and despair disappeared and there were homes, medical clinics and church. It was pure joy."
Upon her arrival in Uganda, with only one way ticket and one suitcase, she found herself stuck in the middle of a riot outside the International Airport. Trishelle was required to lie on the back seat floor of a taxi in order to stay alive for over 7 terrifying hours. “It was a confronting way to be welcome to Uganda and I thought, what have I gotten myself in to?” But within a week, Trishelle had over 60 children on her doorstep. The children were mostly orphans; whose parents had died from aids or the civil war; but also included severely neglected or abused children, even those whose parents had tried to murder them.
“I wouldn’t change any of it. I’m a Mother to over hundreds of kids, and now have four of my own."
To add to her adventure, Trishelle found herself lucky to survive a horror murder plot in 2018 from a rival organisation. A nearby charity, doing similar work to that of 100% Hope, became envious of Trishelle’s success and hired someone she trusted to deliberately end her life. “We couldn’t keep working with them- all international funding for them stopped when they were exposed for corruption.” Hope Village’s school cook was hired to poison Trishelle when she was 16 weeks pregnant with Destiny (seen pictured). By a miracle, Trishelle was on the edge of the capital city when the poison hit her system. She began to feel contractions and vomited blood, and feared she had lost her child. “If I was back in Mityana, over a two hour drive from a hospital, it would have certainly been too late."
Trishelle met baby Hope 4 months after the move to Uganda. Alerted by locals, Trishelle arrived to find 25 children living in cages, with Hope being one of four babies. She was 8 weeks old when Trishelle found her, laying in her own filth, with a case worker doing nothing to assist. She soon discovered that Hope was born on the side of a busy high way, to a mentally ill woman who survived on scraps and her own filth. The Mother soon passed away after being hit by a car. Hope’s certificate reads, 'Mother unknown and Father unknown.’ Soon after, Trishelle came back to rescue Hope after she was kidnapped for child sacrifice in the marketplace. Whilst the practice is illegal, it is still heavily practiced in Uganda, said to bring fame and fortune to those who sacrifice children. In 2017, Hope is 3 years old (seen in photograph). She speaks as fluently as a 7 year old child, and has hit every developmental milestone ahead of her time.