December 2022

A Driving Passion.

You could say Aravind is a veteran when it comes to the Home of Hope… well-seasoned, wise, steady, weathered, and been around for quite some time. He is just 22 years old, and 17 of those years have been spent living in and around the Home of Hope, a homeless shelter in Bengaluru, India, run by our partner, Raja.

Aravind first came to the Home of Hope with his mom when he was a baby, but she ended up dying when he was only three years old. He no longer had his mom, but he had lots of people caring for him and could always count on someone taking him into an embrace, their face lighting up as he entered the shelter each day. The Home of Hope truly became his home. The people became his family.

Being at the Home of Hope is all he can remember. When he had nobody left, no money, and nowhere to go, they didn’t let him go. The Home of Hope was able to see him through it all, going with him every step of the way. It’s almost like Aravind and the Home of Hope were entered into a three-legged race, with their ankles tied together. If Aravind went one way, well, you bet the Home of Hope was there with him, supporting him and helping him in any way they could. And this wasn’t just because he was left to their care, orphaned and alone, but because, like I said before, the people at the Home of Hope became his family. They helped present him with the opportunity to go to school all the way through the ninth grade. And then… Aravind found his passion.

Driving.

Aravind loves to drive. He’s in his element when his hands grip the steering wheel in that familiar ten and two. He is the master of the car. He skillfully maneuvers the vehicle through the streets, through the crowds, and delivers the goods to their rightful destinations. And if you know anything about the bumper-to-bumper traffic in Bengaluru, you know that’s no small task. When he drives, he can make things possible that weren’t possible before… he can travel long distances quickly, load up his truck and move lots of things over large areas with little effort, and, his favorite, he can help save lives. 

One of the ways he loves to serve through his passion of driving is by driving ambulances, hence the way he saves lives. He now works as an ambulance driver for the Home of Hope, and he gets to carry out his passion every day, in a full-circle kind of way. He once was alone at the Home of Hope… no family, no money, no future plans. Now he gets to help people in circumstances so similar to his own by driving them to the Home of Hope, where they receive the medical care they need, often saving their lives. They also won’t leave without being surrounded by people to love and care for them, giving them opportunities to find their passions and be successful in the future, just like he had when he was left at the Home of Hope.

Water and Crocs: Beacons in a Barren Land.

Jemimh is just ten years old and lives in a little town in Kenya called Oletukat. To put it simply, the land is barren there. Everything you could imagine in this town is covered in a stale, brown dust. Naturally, as she walks around in her hometown, Jemimh’s bright blue crocs get covered in this dust, a constant reminder of the harsh conditions she lives in. But even with crocs coated in dust, their color still boldly screams out in contrast to the dull landscape. Similarly, even in the midst of this desolate place, Jemimh shines brightly with her lively personality.

If you meet Jemimh, you meet a friend. You’ll talk about your favorite hobbies—for her it’s net ball, skipping rocks, and playing hide-n-seek with her siblings and friends. You’ll talk about your passions—for her it’s science. She will share her interests with you, while also making you feel known. She is cheerful, inviting people into her circle of friends all the time. She can easily whisk you away into a fun yet intense game at any moment, rallying the people around her to also become energized by the competition of a simple game, like a hand slap game.

For people in Oletukat, access to clean water is difficult to find. They could buy clean water to drink, but this water is expensive. There are also a lot more things that require water in everyday life, like cooking and washing. Because of the expense of clean water, Jemimh and her family (a family of nine kids!) would draw water from wells that was unfiltered, murky, and dark. They would use this water to wash clothes and dishes, bathe themselves, and for cooking.

They made it work, but using dirty water for the basic needs of life isn’t something that should just have to be dealt with. Many organizations have been trying to assist in bringing clean water to the people of Oletukat—to Jemimh and her family. Drilling new wells wasn’t working—no water was found. A pipeline was built to bring water right into the town, and it did—but the water was dirty. So our partner organization, Nasha, began to work on a water filtration system, and we have joined them in trying to bring clean water to Oletukat. A system was planned, built, and implemented. Now Jemimh and her family can walk into town each day and get filtered water to use for their cooking and washing. The water isn’t completely purified, sparkling and clear, but it is filtered and not as murky as what they used before. It’s a step and progress to safer, cleaner water, which is something that impacts the lives of the people in Oletukat each and every day. 

Jemimh helps her family get water every day. She walks into town, goes to the filtration pump, and fills containers with water. Then she carries them home. This process is so simplified for her and her family, and they no longer have to spend hours each day searching for and traveling to get water. Instead, she just has to walk to the filtration pump in town and wait about five minutes for her containers to fill with water.

With all these extra hours of time, Jemimh spends that time of her day at school. She enjoys learning and has fun with her classmates. She can go to school clean and hydrated because of the water she has access to. Instead of spending hours walking to a well just to get dirty water anyway, she has time to be a kid… to play, to run, skip, hop, and laugh. She has time to slip on her bright blue crocs and go outside in a barren land, an excellent picture of the vibrant hope she has through the simple means of cleaner water.

Bringing Dignity by Knowing HOW to Do Something.

Her fingers gently lift the shoots of the plants, moving to the base of the soil. She plucks out a weed, and tenderly lets the greenery back down. She showers the plants with water, giving them the moisture they need to thrive. The way that she cares so intently for these plants reflects the way she cares for people in her life.

Sarah moves about the greenhouse with purpose as she works. Her hair is separated into beautifully twisted strands that are pulled into a high ponytail, completed with a sparkly pink barrette. She smiles softly and tenderly. Beneath her quiet demeanor is a girl with bold integrity and a strong work ethic, determined to do her job well.

She works at Wakisa Ministries, one of our partners in Uganda, in their greenhouse. Originally, Sarah got connected to Wakisa in 2017—she was 14 years old at the time, and she had just found out that she was pregnant. She was being raised by a single mom… her father had five wives, which didn’t allow him much time for Sarah and her siblings. Sarah’s mom was still trying to provide for all of them, so as a way to generate income, she rented out their house. They had a few tenants live in the family’s house, coming and going throughout the months, and Sarah ended up getting pregnant from one of them. She stopped going to school and began trying to look for jobs to provide for her soon-to-be-born baby. Sarah didn’t have much to offer as an uneducated, pregnant, teen girl. She was also facing the possibility of her mom kicking her out of the house if she didn’t find work. It was during this time that Sarah’s aunt brought her to Wakisa’s pregnancy crisis center.

While at Wakisa, Sarah was able to make lots of friends, learn numerous skills like cooking, candle-making, tailoring, knitting, and singing, all while they took care of her during her pregnancy and educated her about motherhood. After her time at Wakisa, Sarah tried to go back to school. But then with Covid hitting and things becoming even more difficult financially, Sarah didn’t have the means to pay for school fees, as she had to prioritize money to keep her and her son alive. Then in 2021 Wakisa called her to come back and attend their Agromax program, a program for teen moms to become educated in agricultural processes.

So Sarah attended Agromax and graduated from the program in 2022. After her graduation, Wakisa offered her a job position in the greenhouse. Wakisa testified to Sarah’s integrity and work ethic and said that is why they wanted her to stay and work for them.

Now Sarah works with the plants, and she loves it. She feels so good when she is working because it is something that she really knows how to do, thanks to the extensive education she received about agriculture at Agromax. She went from a place of extreme unknown in her pregnancy—not knowing what to do with her son, Darius, or how to provide for him—to feeling dignified at work and in her life. She is consistent and works hard so that she will be able to pay school fees for Darius and also help with school fees for her brothers and sisters. She cares deeply for her siblings and is always ready to help them and offer them advice so they may not end up in the same situations as her.