community development

How a university education changed my life!

Candace BarlowJoseph's House

Dear Friends, My grandparents and parents were migrant workers; they traveled between Colorado and Texas for work. My grandparents on both sides of the family have no higher than an early elementary education. While growing up, my Dad and his siblings went to school in Colorado for part of the year. When the work was done in Colorado, they went back to Texas with their family and went to school there for the other part of the year. When my Dad was in 8th grade, my grandparents decided they wanted something better for their kids. They wanted them to finish a full year of school at one location. My grandparents decided the way to achieve this goal was to move to Ohio to take factory jobs and raise their kids. For my grandparents, high school education was vital, and they pushed my father and his siblings to do great in school and achieve this goal. However, once my Dad received his high school diploma, he realized even that would not be enough and that he would need a university education to truly get ahead in life. My Dad held a full-time job, had a family, and went to night school […]

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June’s family – Kwa Njenga LIFT community, April update

Candace BarlowKwa Njenga, Lift

11-year-old June lives with her Mom and Dad and 2 younger brothers in Nairobi’s Kwa Njenga slum. She is pictured above (L-R) with her younger brothers, mother, and our Head Social Worker in Kenya, Eliud Kipkorir. June’s mother and father first met at church in Nairobi. Kwa Njenga is the city’s second-largest slum. No updates (roads, utilities, etc.) have been made since it sprang up. June is able to attend the 4th grade at Gifted Prince school due to support from Light Up Hope’s LIFT program, which pays her school fees. June is a talented student, even though she struggles with epilepsy. The wages earned by her father – who is diabetic – as a security guard mostly pay for medicine for himself and his daughter, as well as for food and rent for the family. June’s mother helps out with the family’s needs by seeking day labor washing clothes for neighbors in a nearby affluent area. The gift of school fees has allowed the family to send the younger two children to school, as well, although they still struggle with finding clean water, paying their rent (which has increased), and dealing with unsanitary and difficult conditions in the slums. […]

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To all the moms of spoiled rotten children out there, I have an idea!

kellyUncategorized

Let’s be honest, the biggest challenge I have feeding my children is they don’t want to eat what I cook.  And not because I’m a bad cook. In fact (you may not know this about me), but I attended culinary school and worked as a personal chef for some time; so really my kids are just completely spoiled rotten and ungrateful. But I love them more than life itself. And I still wake up every day and think of what I want to cook and what they will want to eat; then I make sure it is a balanced meal with vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates. I think about variety and hope at least 2 out of 3 children won’t complain that they don’t like rice, or that it’s too spicy, or why isn’t it macaroni and cheese?  I stress about how I will find time in my busy schedule between dropping one kid at soccer, answering emails, picking up another kid from band practice, and answering the phone call from my poor mom who just wants five minutes of my time, to actually have the time in my kitchen to prepare the planned meal.  Then I work my magic and start cooking…dreading […]

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Giving work to local women, tutoring for exams and fish farming

KellyUncategorized

New pictures from Hope Children’s Home in Kitale Local women are hired to begin preparing the soil for planting of the 2013 maize crop.  Not only does our farm provide food for the children in our care, it also provides income for the local community. Orphanage Director, Fred Afwai, arranged for a friend from Nairobi to come to the local school where the grade 8 children attend to tutor the class and teachers on study habits and best approaches to taking the Kenyan National Exam in the Fall that will determine their secondary school placement. Having some fun on a day off from school.  Love these kids…and we see some neighbor kids have joined the fun too! Dropping nets in one of the fish ponds to check on the progress of the growing tilapia crop.

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