Carrie Wehrman

Freedom through a uniform.

It was so embarrassing. And, it was totally out of her control. As a young girl in Uganda, she was experiencing what every child goes through. At some point, your body begins to grow, and suddenly, you shoot up a couple inches in height, your feet leap three sizes, and your clothes don’t quite fit like they used to. And, well, this is exactly what Clarisha was going through. She was also dealing with her family’s income. Her mom was earning as much as she could by selling charcoal each day, but things were tight.

Clarisha couldn’t stop her growth, and she wasn’t in control of her family’s financial situation. So, even though she needed a new school uniform, she couldn’t afford to get one.

So she was stuck with a uniform that didn’t fit. She was constantly pulling it down, trying to shift the fabric around to cover her body, to somehow stretch it to make it fit in the way it was supposed to… the way it did before she began her growth spurt. Of course, Clarisha knew that wearing this too-small, too-awkward uniform was NOT her choice. She begged her mom to buy her a new one, but her mom refused because putting food on the table was way more important for their family. However, other people in the community didn’t know the “why” behind Clarisha’s clothing choices. As she walked to school, she would often hear comments from men as she passed them on the roads. They thought she was intentionally dressing in a way that didn’t cover her body in order to get attention, so they would call out to her and hit on her. She wasn’t comfortable or confident in these circumstances. She was also self-conscious when interacting with her classmates, especially when they had uniforms that DID fit them, and she didn’t. Having a high self-esteem is a tough battle for any girl her age, but hers was at rock bottom.

But then, after a long time grappling with the factors out of her control, Clarisha was gifted a new set of uniforms. She got two new uniforms, sportswear, and a sweater sized and fitted just for her through funding from The Hope Venture. Simply just having clothes that fit her revolutionized Clarisha’s world. She now walks with ease to and from school, clear of comments about her clothing from men. She can interact with freedom and confidence with her classmates at school. She has peace and joy because she doesn’t feel shame for what she’s wearing anymore, but instead can come to school with dignity. She can focus on her schoolwork instead of her clothes, and focus on achieving her dream of becoming a surgeon.

Clarisha had a need. And it was met. This reminds me a lot of one of our foundational scriptures here at The Hope Venture:

“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:15-17 NIV.

It’s a beautiful thing to see this scripture lived out as a reality through Clarisha’s story. She was in need of clothes, and through The Hope Venture’s partnership with Dr. Emma and Passion Christian Ministries, YOU were able to actually DO something about the need and provide uniforms for her. How incredible is it that we have a God who loves us so much, and we can share His love with others by helping provide for tangible needs, like a school uniform. It’s such a simple way that we can live out and act on our faith in a God who radically loves us, and who cares deeply for all people all over the world.

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.

Faith and her faith.

Faith. An 18-year-old girl who lives in Mathare, a slum in Kenya. A girl who loves to go to school, taking classes like Christian education, Swahili language class, and home science, where she learns to cook and clean. A girl who loves to be creative. She takes her camera with her everywhere, awed by the beauty and wonder of the world around her and captures it with the click of a button. She loves art and expressing herself through it. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer, an outlet for her to take her dreams and put them into reality. Kindness, devotion, playfulness, sass, and steadiness exude from her. She loves to socialize with friends, cherishing time spent with them.

Faith is passionate about life and is overflowing with joy in all the activities she is involved in. However, her life isn’t free of difficulties. She lives with her mom, dad, and brother. Her dad is a boda boda driver (basically a motorcycle taxi) around the town, and he is gone all day looking for work. Her mom, Regina, sells chai to bring in income. But these jobs don’t bring in enough money to provide for the family. Regina desperately wants to provide for her family, and it’s really hard on her as a mom when she is unable to. The family often has to go without eating for the day because they don’t have enough money to buy food, and even with Regina’s best efforts, she can’t sell enough chai to bring them out of debt. And with this income level, there certainly wasn’t an option to pay for an education.

But Faith is now the first in her family to go to boarding school. This opportunity came through a connection with our partner, Purity, to get Faith a scholarship. Faith now gets to go to school, and she eats a meal there every day too.

Faith isn’t just the name of this 18-year-old girl that I’ve been telling you about, though. Faith is also a firm confidence and trust—a quality that is certainly not lacking in Faith’s life. Faith claims Jesus to be the Savior of her life. She says it simply: “I love him.” Her love for Jesus is so evident in her life and saturates all of her interests. She is dependent on him, and spends time on her knees praying to achieve her dreams, to help her family, and to help others. She knows He will always be close to her when she needs Him. She has seen His provision and His care for her, and she lives with joy in all areas of her life because of it. She is so thankful to God for the opportunity to go to school because of the scholarship she has received through The Hope Venture, and for the opportunities that may come in the future, allowing her to pursue a career or dream beyond the classroom.

The Simple Dignity of a Backpack.

Keerthana and Rashi… the unstoppable sibling duo. Their smiles—contagious. Their determination—relentless. Their dreams—immeasurable. Side by side, they are taking steps into a new future, one that was previously unimaginable for them. They pick up their backpacks and swing them around onto their backs, sliding their arms through the strap loops. The bags snuggle in against their spines, dependable and secure. The dark turquoise straps of their backpacks exuberate dignity as they rest on their shoulders. It’s like there’s no other place those straps can be, except lying on top of their shoulders.

They are so thankful for the backpacks that have been provided for them through The Hope Venture’s Backpack Project, because before they received them, going to school was difficult. Their parents don’t have stable and sustainable jobs. The work that they are able to get doesn’t pay a lot, and it’s pretty irregular. Their parents struggle to supply all the needs of their children, especially for books for school. According to their mother, not even the government helps them, and they feel pretty neglected. Even through all their efforts, there seemed to be no way to relieve any of the problems the family faced.

But then Keerthana and Rashi were able to receive a backpack filled with all the supplies they would need for the year, and circumstances changed. They were now ensured an opportunity to attend school and to strive for success. Any worries about affording their school supplies could no longer stand in the way. Their parents didn’t have to stress about stretching their finances to buy books and school supplies for them anymore.

A backpack. It’s something so simple! Now, because they received a backpack, Keerthana and Rashi can go to school. They are able to progress in their education and pursue their dreams of becoming teachers so they can help other kids just like them experience the joy, excitement, and dignity of being a student in a classroom.