BEIJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- In some corners of the world, some children are enjoying their heavenly life, while others are suffering bitterness. But a strong will lightens the load of those suffering children and gives them hope.

    UGANDAN ORPHAN FENDS FOR SIBLINGS

    With tears gushing from his eyes, which are irritated by cooking smoke, Denis Opoka keeps mixing maize flour in a saucepan while his younger sister and brother are waiting quietly.

    Opoka, 14, has been running the family in a remote Ugandan village for several years after their parents were killed by a notorious Ugandan rebel group.

    Living in a mud hut, Opoka always tried to come up with a way to keep his nine-year-old sister Innocent Apio and 12-year-old brother Samuel Onen fed and educated.

    They dug up several small patches of farmland around the hut, planting maize, sweet potatoes and beans. The harvest, however, could barely sustain them after drought ruined the first season's crops earlier this year.

    From time to time, Opoka works in the neighbor's garden in exchange for a little money to buy soap, candles or salt.

    Opoka has to walk barefoot 5 km to Omoti Hill Primary School every morning. He is sitting in Primary Seven, for the second year, after he failed to raise about 150,000 Ugandan shillings (about 85 U.S. dollars) for Senior One, although he passed the exams with a grade average of B.

    His siblings are luckier: they are being educated at a nearby school, only five minutes' walk from their home.

    Only when the sun starts setting can Opoka and his family get together again as they cook and eat supper. After that, the older brother sometimes corrects Apio's and Onen's homework and exam papers.

    A paraffin lamp, the only thing that can extend their study time after sunset, was stolen recently, leaving them depending on candles borrowed from a neighbor.

    At night, Opoka and his brother share a blanket, which doubles as a cover and a mat, while Apio uses a torn bed sheet.

    Opoka hopes to join a vocational technical institute "so that I can get a job to pay school fees for my brother and sister."

Special Report: Global News Day for Children