Poverty Brings Bondage, but Jesus Brings Hope | When Hope Spreads Ep. 3

Maureen’s family lived in an overcrowded, impoverished community in Nairobi, Kenya. At times they would go without eating for four or five days. When they did manage to find food, it was often the rotten fruit that the market vendors were unable to sell.
Her father was a casual laborer who made about $10 a month. Since the family’s home was $6 a month to rent, that left just $4 a month to cover all their other needs.
“So life was unbearable.”
Hunger affected more than just Maureen’s physical health. “You cannot concentrate on an empty stomach,” she explains. “And so many of the times, I would be last in class.”
And there were other factors hurting her school performance. Sometimes Maureen’s parents couldn’t cover her school fees, and she would be sent home from class.
With such a miserable beginning to life, Maureen saw no reason to believe in a better future. “There’s no ray of hope in everything that is happening in my life,” Maureen says she thought at the time. “So that actually made me hate myself so much. And hate God.”
Believing the message of hopelessness that poverty sends to children, Maureen thought her family would be better off dead.
When Maureen was 7, she began hearing new words when her mother took her to a local church and registered her in Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program there. Maureen started going to a child development center on Saturdays.
“I was always looking forward to every Saturday because it was like Christmas to me and my family,” says Maureen, recalling the nutritious meals she ate at the center. “There is power in food, and there is power in opportunity.”
Soon Maureen realized that the program offered much more than food. “I was taught to pray, and I felt loved,” she says. “The church was the first place in my life where I got a hug and someone showed concern.”
The program covered her school fees and supplies, which inspired her to study as hard as she could.
Words of encouragement came from her sponsor. “My sponsor wrote me letters, telling me they are praying for me and love me. One of the biggest things they did was to tell me I am beautiful. I never saw myself as beautiful.”
Empowered with education and the words of the Bible and her sponsor, Maureen’s self-worth grew. “I started believing that I could do something. My dreams are valid.
“All these things are because of what I learned from the Compassion project.”
Maureen completed high school and then became the first in her family to attend university.
She was enrolled in Compassion’s former Leadership Development Program. At the time, the program enabled her to pursue a university degree in education and learn about servant leadership from a Christian perspective.
With the education degree she was earning, Maureen originally planned to teach high school and volunteer in the Compassion center she’d attended.
But her plans shifted when she went on a three-month trip to the United States in 2010, speaking on behalf of Compassion about her experiences growing up in poverty and being released from it. During her trip, she had a dream.
“In the dream, I felt God was calling me to serve, but I did not know how,” she says.
She shared her dream with her friend Kristen, a popular writer from Texas who had met Maureen on a recent blogging trip to Kenya. The women prayed together and trusted God to show Maureen what her next steps would be.
Weeks after Maureen returned home, Kristen reached out to her to tell her about a troubling TV news story she’d seen about Kenya’s backstreet abortions. She learned about young girls being sold into sex work by their desperate parents. Forced into such a life, many girls experience unwanted pregnancies and then die from illegal, botched abortion attempts.
Maureen confirmed what Kristen had seen in the news story; she had seen the horrors firsthand. She had several friends who were sexually assaulted as children. “I have a very close friend who, while in elementary school, aborted six times,” Maureen remembers.
Since both friends felt desperate to do something about the problem - and since Maureen was feeling called into service - they started shaping a plan for serving girls facing crisis pregnancies. Together, Kristen and Maureen decided to start a foundation and home in Nairobi for pregnant girls. Maureen would serve as director, and Kristen would raise funds through her blog.
In March 2011, Maureen opened Rehema House, “a Christian nonprofit organization, which rescues young, poor, pregnant girls from the streets and slums of Kenya,” Maureen says. “Rehema” means “mercy” in Swahili.
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[@wanitoz]

'There is power in food and much more power in opportunities' Thank you Compassion.

[@minkyann8132]

"If I never went through, what I went through I would not give the girls my all", Wow! such amazing insight. This lady is blessed to be the catalyst to help/change the young girls in her community. Girl power 🙂

[@reneelynn444]

You are so inspiring, Maureen! God blesses you❤

[@ChildofGod98765]

Father God I love you! You are truly amazing! I trust in you even as I struggle to take care of my children and myself. My husband passed away years ago. As a single mother things are so hard on me. Both of my sons are autistic. God please hear my prayers. I’m constantly struggling to buy groceries and constantly struggling to pay rent I’m ashamed and overwhelmed. But I choose to have faith over fear as christians that’s all we can do. No matter your struggle, you can turn to God. He knows us personally and can give us strength to overcome our challenges. Heavenly and merciful Father, I come before your glorious throne today, in humble adoration please help me overcome my struggles and my constant fear of homelessness. You have provided this far and I’m so grateful for your love and mercy. I will continue to walk with faith! And not by sight!

[@syllasse]

You're an inspiration, Maureen!

[@debbie5454]

This is truly inspiring. May you inspire others to become world changers.❤

[@hansvandenberg6464]

so great to know what impact the little we do as sponsors has on the lives of those sponsored! such a pity only a small group of compassion sponsors watch these videos

[@romandeneke9110]

Powerful testimony, God bless Compassion ,sponsors and Maureen

[@accentogringoTejas]

What an inspiring story, Maureen! May God richly bless Rehema House and your efforts to love these girls. People in the west have no idea what poverty looks like in other countries. Thank you for giving back to those around you.