Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Garden of the Lost and Abandoned: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Woman and the Children She Saves. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Garden of the Lost and Abandoned is the story of Gladys Kalibbala, a part time journalist on a mission to help the children living on the streets of Uganda. Author of a newspaper column called “Lost and Abandoned,” Gladys has developed a reputation among the police and other officials that she is the point person with regards finding the families of these lost children. Using her connections and her own money, Gladys gives what she can to keep family units together.

Author Jessica Yu spent many hours shadowing Gladys Kalibbala, in an effort to gain the full picture as to the scope of Uganda's problem and this dedicated woman's response to it. The problem that I had with Garden of the Lost and Abandoned is that the book comes off more like a series of essays instead of a cohesive story. In her attempt to show how much Gladys has sacrificed for the children, the author let the facts overwhelm the emotional nature of this subject. The book should have been compelling, highlighting the issues of extreme poverty and hopelessness that leads parents to abandon their children, but I never really got the sense of urgency that would have propelled the story forward. Gladys Kalibbala is a remarkable woman, working tirelessly for others and giving everything she has to save one more child. Her altruistic ways should be an inspiration to readers of Garden of the Lost and Abandoned.

Uganda is a country situated in East Africa. To the east it borders with Kenya, to the north with South Sudan, to the west with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the southwest with Rwanda, and to the south with Tanzania. It is a presidential republic, in which the President serves as the head of state and the government at the same time.

From 1969 to 2015, Uganda’s population grew from 9.5 million to 34.9 million. It has the fifth highest fertility rate in the world, and its median age (15) is the lowest. In addition, Uganda is one of the world’s poorest countries. Thus more than 50% of children under the age of five and 38% of school-aged kids live in poverty. Based on these grave statistics, one should not be surprised to hear that there are approximately 5,000 children between the ages of 7 and 20 who live on their own on the streets of Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
Full review available at: https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/garden-of-the-lost-and-abandoned

Gladys Kalibbala a woman who does not have a lot of formal education, but has a big heart, and has a drive to keep going, like no other.
The author, after having spent time with Gladys, relays these stories about the children that Gladys has help and we get to see the love Gladys has for the children of her country.
Gladys works for a local paper, in Uganda as a reporter writing an article called “Lost and Abandoned,” She is different from other reporters there as she makes and effort even though she hardly has money of her own to try and find the families of the children that she writes about and whom no one has come to claim. Until she is able to find out more about these children and why they were abandoned, or ran away in the first place, she finds a nurturing environment where they can stay. She is always calling in favors, for the little bit of donations she receives, which doesn't go a long way when you never give up on a child and through the years are trying to give each one a sense of purpose, or a ride back home to find out what got them here in the first place. She is loved by all of the children, and they all call her Mamma.
Even though some of the stories are sad, we see how these children are resourceful and in want of a better life and education.
Well worth a read.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Garden of the Lost and Abandoned by Jessica Yu tells the story of Gladys. Gladys is a reporter in Uganda writing a column titled "Lost and Abandoned". The column features children searching for their families. Gladys takes it much further by investigating both children and families. When no families can be found Gladys takes on the children's care all while struggling to support herself. The stories are hard to read at times, but Gladys in an inspiration. The book is wonderfully written and captures the hard truth of daily life in Uganda.