A Kenyan woman born and raised in the Mathare Valley slum near Nairobi has made the most of the opportunities provided by Missions of Hope International.
At age 4, Jecinta Wanjiku was selected as one of the first 50 kids at Missions of Hope. She attended a MOHI school in the slum, then two MOHI schools outside of the slum.
Ultimately, Wanjiku received a loan from MOHI to attend college, where she earned her law degree. . . . Then she went back to school.
“I recently was sworn in as an advocate of the high court of Kenya,” Wanjiku says on a video at MOHI’s website. “Today I am an advocate for others because someone was an advocate for me.”
Wanjiku grew up in a shanty with a single mother and a younger brother. The Mathare slums are home to approximately 600,000 people in a 3-square-mile area.
“At MOHI I was safe,” Wanjiku says in the video. “I had two meals a day, and medical care, a great school with amazing teachers who loved me and taught me about how God loved me.”
At age 10, a fire raged through the family’s shanty in Mathare Valley. The family lost everything. Her mother fell into depression, then abused alcohol, and was taking hard drugs when she died when her daughter was a junior in high school.
Not too long after the fire, Wanjiku switched to a MOHI boarding school outside of the slums. Then she switched to a MOHI high school about an hour from Nairobi. (Her brother also was attending a MOHI school.)
“MOHI, was a parent to me,” she says.
While in high school, MOHI paid Wanjiku’s school fees along with providing money for shopping and transportation.
After high school, Wanjiku took a computer course that her grandmother paid for. Then she decided on a career in law but didn’t know how she would pay for it. Fortunately, MOHI had just started a higher education loan program. She applied for a loan and received it. Ultimately, she attended school in an upmarket part of Nairobi, something she never imagined could be possible.
“Soon, I’ll become a child sponsor so that I can impact a life, the same way my sponsor impacted me,” she says in the video. “Together we can bring hope and transform lives for Christ.”
Over the years, MOHI has gone from serving 50 children in one section of the slum to more than 16,000 children in 23 different communities throughout Kenya.
“Mathare Valley is an unforgiving place to call home,” Wanjiku says. “People say nothing good can come from there. Today, I am an example that good things do come from the Mathare Valley.”
This article was prepared based on information and a video posted at Missions of Hope International’s website.
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