Hard work and a heart for people pays off for a young woman in our WOVEN program

Loice at her internship

 Hello, my name is Loice Makari Oloo aged 23 years old. Thank you so much for granting me this opportunity to tell you my story. I grew up as an orphan under my uncle’s guidance. I am the only child in my family. Though my uncle has a family of three children who I comfortably consider as my younger siblings, he really struggled hard as a casual worker to ensure that I successfully completed my primary education in 2016, where I scored 353 marks out of 500 marks.  After my exemplary KCPE results, the school Deputy Headmaster got me a chance to join the late Mama Priscah Atieno Oulo’s Orphanage. Honestly she was my powerful guardian who really nurtured me to be a lady of integrity up to now. It was through this Orphanage that I got the opportunity to be picked by LUH for WOVEN sponsorship in 2020, having attained a mean grade of C plain with 45 points.  I am a student at Kenya Utalii College and I am pursuing a course in Hospitality Management, specializing in Food, Beverage Service and Sales. I find the course very interesting because I like interacting with different people while collaborating with […]

Dear Tuungane Community Foundation,

My name is Juliet Muthoni Wambui, the last-born daughter to Jane Wambui. I am a student in Nyandarua High, currently in form two. My mother is a single parent who has done everything in her power to educate me and my older sister. As a tea vendor on the beautiful market of Kenol, her meagre income has never been enough to cater to our food, clothing, housing and educational needs but somehow my mother always ensured my sister and I remained in school at all times. However, 2020 was an especially hard year for me and my family. In addition to the pandemic that restricted my mother’s income, she fell seriously ill leaving us with little to no funds to even pay for our rent.  In previous years, my sister and I have always helped our mother in her business during school holidays. We would often cook the tea and clean her utensils as she left to deliver the drink to her customers. But with her illness, we could not deliver the tea as we ourselves had never interacted with her customers. When the time came for me to join form one, I remember how my mother tried to borrow […]

From the Streets to Class-a LIFT success story

Brian Scott, one of our LIFT beneficiaries in a young man who has faced significant challenges his young life. When his mother, Gladys, got married to Joseph Scott, Brian hoped he had found a safe place to call home and a father to fill in the gaps that his biological dad had left. However, the dynamics of a blended family did not favor the young boy who would eventually find himself at the receiving end of his step-father’s anger. As the situation escalated to physical and psychological abuse, Gladys was left between choosing his son and her husband. When the situation at home did not improve, Brian Scott ran away from home and became a street child for over a month before his mother tracked him down and arranged for him to live with one of his aunties. The initial arrangement was that both Brian’s parents would contribute towards the upkeep of the boy while he lived at his auntie’s place. However, the plans did not work and Brian found himself back at the streets of Korokocho market. At this point, Brian’s teachers started spotting him at dump sites and called the organization in an attempt to salvage the young […]

The Story of Monica Mwongeli

Hi, my name is Monica Mwongeli and am a student at Kenyatta university pursing a degree in Nursing through the funding from Tuungane Community Foundation. Growing up, I remember visiting the local clinic on days medical officers from Nairobi would visit just to see the nurses. Back then, the simple white dresses with crisp rubber shoes the nurses wore symbolized the epitome of achievement and importance. I dreamt of one day becoming a nurse and working in a big hospital like Kenyatta National Hospital. At the time, things at home were okay and my dreams of becoming a nurse did not seem so farfetched. See, I am the second born in a family of five children between two living parents. In the first 8 years of my life, both my parents had stable sources of income with my mother working odd jobs in local farms and my father working for a huge factory. My parents were both very caring and I enjoyed spending time with my siblings after school. However, life happened and our family’s bubble was busted by one tragedy after another. It all begun when my father had an argument at work with one of his colleagues. The […]