Imagine that you are faced with supporting your 4 children with what you can grow on a ½ acre of land or earn from short-term labor. And the land is shared with your extended family. This is the challenge that Vivian’s (pictured above) parents face each day in rural Kibingoti, one of the 3 focus communities for our LIFT program.
LIFT funds pay Vivian’s school fees at Kahuhoini Primary school. She attends the 6th grade. Before receiving this funding, Vivian often was sent home from school due to lack of payment. She is very grateful that “she now can study” like her classmates from more economically fortunate families.
3 of the family’s 7 children live together with their parents in a 2-room home with dirt floors. Their father recently became ill and cannot farm or seek work, so their mother has started looking for casual (short-term) labor in order to buy food for the family. They face additional challenges from dirt roads that become impassable in the rainy season, a shortage of health care providers and clinics, and a lack of clean water for drinking and use at home. Demand for clean water and better health care both are very high in the area.
Vivian, like many children in Kenya, works hard both at school and at home. She helps with daily essential chores like cleaning, washing dishes, and caring for the chickens that her family raises. She dreams of becoming a doctor one day and wonders if American children also study.
The family is very grateful for the support they receive, which has helped them to keep their school-age children in school. However, they realize that their journey to see all 4 school-age children through high school, is long.
Poverty is the leading cause of orphanhood in Kenya. LIFT is our family unification program that provides 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/