Could you make the choice to live separately from your spouse and to parent your 3 children in a large city, all on your own, in order to provide them a better life? That’s the choice that Emmanuel’s (pictured here, with his father) parents made. Emmanuel’s father, Philip, lives with 3 of his 6 children in Nairobi, where he works for the city’s transportation department, while Emmanuel’s mother stays in a rural village in western Kenya.
The 4-person family lives in a one-room rented home in Umoja, an urban neighborhood in Nairobi. Although they came to Nairobi to seek opportunities, costs – especially rent – also are high, and they have experienced great hardship. The family sometimes goes days without food.
In the village, where Emmanuel’s mother, Sarah, resides, the family owns an acre of land. The land is used to produce food for the extended family. Sarah also works in the sugarcane fields. Her eldest daughter is married and no longer lives at home.
Emmanuel is able to attend school for the first time, now that he receives support from our LIFT program to pay his school fees. He is attending first grade. He says that he has good teachers and loves math, because he enjoys “playing with numbers.” His dream is to be a doctor and to be rich when he grows up. Emmanuel also wants to know whether American kids speak Swahili.
The funding has allowed Emmanuel and his elementary-age siblings to stay in school. Without funding, they might be forced to drop out, as their elder siblings unfortunately have done, due to lack of funds for fees and supplies.
Poverty, not the death of a parent, is the leading cause of orphanhood in Kenya. LIFT is our family unification program providing support with food, education, and health care, with the aim of keeping families together. YOU can change a child’s and family’s life! Learn more or become a sponsor at: https://lightuphope.org/about/lift-family-unification/