I'm Emma Mae Garri

Emma is a sweet and cheerful girl from a small village in the south of Belize. Her favorite color is pink, and she loves to eat hudut, a traditional dish from her Garifuna culture. Emma enjoys playing with her cats and loves helping her grandmother, who is the one raising her. Emma comes from a large family with seven siblings. Her mother works in another village and is only able to come home on weekends. Emma is living with serious sickle cell anemia, an inherited disease that causes red blood cells to become crescent-shaped. These abnormal cells can block small blood vessels and don’t live as long as healthy red blood cells, which leads to chronic health challenges. Emma needs specialized treatment that is not currently available in Belize. Even with her condition, Emma is full of joy and she wants to be a police officer when she grows up so she can help protect and serve her community.