Children are Learning and Mothers are Working: LIFT Update

We have had several recent achievements in our LIFT program that we are very thankful for: We are currently supporting 33 students in Kenya! We were able to pay school fees early to all our supportive schools! This way our students didn’t lose any learning time by having to be sent home because of unpaid school fees. A good number of our students reported back to school on the opening date, except in Kwa Njenga slums where they recorded 100% return on the opening date.  In Kibingoti we had also had a good number of returning students on their opening date.  In Nairobi, most of our schools reopened despite the May’s cold weather. None of our students have been reported ill or missing and they are all busy in school and doing quite well. Parents responded well to our request to have the report cards in the office earlier for better reporting and compilation. 10 LIFT Mothers have come together to start a coffee growers Co-Op in our rural farming community, Kibingoti.  With the help of some Broomfield donors, mothers in Kenya are getting a chance to start a coffee growers Co-op! A coffee plantation has been leased and we had the pleasure to […]

How funding a business can keep orphans in a home

Sure by now you know that Light Up Hope provides orphans with hope and opportunity, but did you know we also have programs that fight poverty and injustice through empowering the people in Kenya who are helping orphans every day?  People like Lawrence. Lawrence is a welder by trade living in a slum, in a tiny rental house. He is married with five kids and is guardian to his four orphaned nieces and nephews.  Lawrence cares greatly about all 9 of the children he is responsible for – and an orphan himself he believes it is God’s calling on his life to care for these children.  The problem is as a day laborer he only makes about $25 per week, barely enough money to get by – he is afraid that he is stuck in a life of poverty and may not be able to continue to provide for the burden of caring for four additional children on his small income. On our last trip to Kenya we met with Lawrence, heard his story and encouraged him and asked him how we could help.  He told us that he was skilled in welding but didn’t make enough money to buy […]