Story of hope for Grace (not her real name)

At the age of five in 2006 Grace’s dad died and she was left with her single mother and two other siblings, with no place to call home, no job or business to support the family, life became very hard for them. One day she overhead that her uncles would come and take them back to their rural home where her mother would be re-married to one of them. This did not please Grace since she knew of how life in the village was going to be tough and at some point, she would never even continue with her schooling. That day she went to school where she used to study at Kwa-Watoto Primary school in Nairobi Kayole estate, by then she was in grade one and that evening after school she deliberately refused to go back home until the director came and took her to her place. She explained to the director her predicament and the following morning the director called her mum to take her from school. Her mum got to meet the director and after a talk she got a golden opportunity to work with the school as a school Matron. This marked a turning point for Sharon and her family and at this time they got assured of a roof on top of their head and education because the school was going to give them accommodation as well.

Grace meets Yatima/Orphan Outreach

Grace continued with her primary school at Kwa-Watoto Primary and when she finished her eighth grade, she didn’t know how or where she would do her high school studies. She had always dreamt of going to a good boarding school that had a good performance history but due to her mum’s financial status she could not see it possible. She was singing during one of the events at Kwa-Watoto Primary just after her examination results were out, and little did she know that one of the audiences she was singing to would make her dream come true. The director from Yatima Outreach, Mr. Tom Wambulwa, and the sponsors at Orphan Outreach decided that they would take Grace through high school and months later she was taken to Christ the King girls High School in Nakuru with all the school fee paid and shopping. Grace had all along been a high performing student and she was hoping to do her best in high school and achieve her dream of joining University

Grace’s twist of fate

While at Christ the King Girls High school Grace was focused always putting her best foot forward, she even joined her high school basketball team however this was not going to last for long, at form two Grace started feeling unwell. Her hands and legs would swell frequently but she avoided raising an alarm because she did not want to stress her struggling mother and at the same time she wasn’t sure what she was suffering from. The head teacher had seen this and had been closely monitoring her. One day she called forth her mum and she was taken to the hospital. The doctors at Nehema Ruaraka Hospital had been suspecting that she was suffering from a change in climate or a condition called Juvenile Arthritis and she was given some medicine. She quit from basketball and was given knee-caps to wear but the situation turned worse. Her Mother involved Orphan Outreach and she was taken to Matter Hospital to a cardiologist who saw her and did a heart scan and it was discovered that she had rheumatic fever. She was then given the right drugs and every month she was advised to go for a penicillin injection until she will turn 21 as she is just 19. Grace’s new condition had tremendous effects on both her social life and studies and this meant that she had to transfer her studies from Nakuru to Kwa-Watoto Secondary in Nairobi where her mother worked for close monitoring. She did not like this idea but had to cope with it. Unfortunately, in 2018 when she finished her Secondary school education she did not excel as she had expected due to the stigmatization and the disorganization that she had gone through because of her ill-health and changing of schools. She had a grade D+ that could not take her to a higher learning institution. Life became meaningless for her and she totally gave up in life and studies as well. Never to try again.

Grace’s Hope Reinstated

Grace’s mum had been praying for her and hoping that one day she will decide to go back to school and give it one more trial even though she felt that she had disappointed the sponsors at Orphan Outreach, they never gave up on her and still used to cater for her medical bills whenever she would visit the hospital on monthly basis. In 2019, she went back to school at Mbale-Shalom Girls High School and repeated her form four. Orphan Outreach stood with her all the way up to her very last term and the results were shocking! She attained a grade B that would see her straight away join Daystar University, one of the best higher learning institutions in the country. She is very happy that at last she has made it despite all the ups and downs she had been through.

Grace’s Motivation and Ambition

What motivates Grace is the people who have stood by her all through her life, her mother, Orphan Outreach and her former Primary school director. They are quite an inspiration to her. When Grace joins Daystar, she wants to study a course on environmental health and she says this is just for a career however her biggest ambition is to own an organization like Orphan outreach in future so that she can help other girls the way she was helped. This will also serve as a platform for her to tell her story to the world to encourage those who might be in her situation.