Kwa Njenga LIFT community, March update

R-L: Sherline, her sister Leshan, her sister Winfred, her grandmother.

Sherline – who is being sponsored by LIFT (our family unification program) – makes her home in Kwa Njenga with her grandmother, 2 siblings, and 2 members of the extended family. This 6-person family lives in a one-room shelter made of corrugated metal. Sherline’s youngest sister, Winfer, is disabled and must attend a special school.

Kwa Njenga is a sprawling slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. Here, many families live on the edge of dissolution, in extreme poverty. The main housing material is corrugated metal. Most families live in very cramped conditions, with trash littering, and raw sewage running, in the alleyways between residences. Families must purchase water and carry it back to their residence for household use – drinking, cooking, and cleaning; in other words, in addition to a lack of sewage and garbage service, there is no running water.

A neighbor girl washes her feet and boots.

Schools in Kwa Njenga are either underfunded or beyond the means of many families (who cannot afford school fees). We are sponsoring several families in Kwa Njenga through our LIFT program, where the need for help with food, education, and health care, is especially great.

Through the gift of LIFT funds for Sherline’s school fees, the family now can pay for medicine for Winfer, as well as rent, for their residence. The family reports feeling less stressed and more hopeful, although they still experience great need for basics such as: clean water, sufficient food, and school fees for Sherline’s 2 sisters.

Sherline and Leshan walk toward their home in Kwa Njenga.

Sherline says that she helps her grandmother with chores, at home, and enjoys math and Kiswahili, in school. She dreams of putting her education to use by becoming a teacher one day. “Because I want to help children learn,” she says.

To find out how you can help, please click through below. Poverty is the leading cause of orphanhood in Kenya. LIFT is our family unification program that seeks to keep poor children united with their families by assisting with food, education, and health care needs.

https://lightuphope.org/about/lift-family-unification/

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