Hajjarah has been a member of the K2 Community Group for the past year and in that time has become not just a key figure but the leader of both the Community Group and the Discipleship Group.

Coming from a strict Muslim family, she met Jesus through an amazing combination of events. After various financial ups and downs, with her young son Asheron being sick and in and out of hospital, Hajjarah and her husband were wondering whether their child would ever really be well again. At this point Hajjarah began having dreams in which she saw a man in white, shining clothes come to touch Asheron. Shortly after this her sister, who was also a Muslim, suggested that maybe she could take Asheron to be prayed for at a church near where she lived. In desperation, Hajjarah and her husband sold off their mattress in order to afford the transport to take him. They stayed three days with Hajjarah’s sister, going to the church each day. Every day Asheron improved; he began talking again where he had been silent and began walking again where he had not even had the strength to stand. By the end of the three days he was completely well and both Mama and Tata Asheron gave their lives to Jesus!

Soon after this Hajjarah was looking for something, which she could do to add to the family income. One day she happened to meet Mama Edith (a member of the K2 Community Group) who was busy knitting. Hajjarah was fascinated and asked how she could learn the skill. Mama Edith invited her along to the group and she never looked back. In the following months Mama Asheron found out about how to stay healthy in the slums, avoiding diseases such as pneumonia and typhoid, building stove shelters to allow cooking outside, social issues like gender-based violence and of course knitting. Along with these new life skills learnt through the group, she also discovered that she had a real gift for leadership and a passion to encourage, mentor and build up other women in her community.

It has been amazing to see how she has grown in confidence and in her understanding of how to work with others both inside and outside the Community Group. She is always eager to share her testimony, and pray with those around her and under her leadership, the Discipleship Group has become united and self-motivated.

She has also begun training as one of our first Social Champions. Following on from the idea of Health and Nutrition Champions (who are able to help with identifying emergencies and with teaching in the slums), Social Champions will be on the ground to help our team spot urgent social issues, monitor ongoing cases and help with teaching. Their personal experiences of hardship in the slum communities allow them to uniquely identify with and support those experiencing similar difficulties. We are really excited to see what the Champions are capable of!

You can help us build, train and support Community Groups like Hajjarah’s and raise up change-makers in the slum communities to see lasting transformation. For £15 a month a group can be supported, trained and given hope.

Sign up to ‘Bright Hope is Rising’ today and we will update you regularly with photos and stories about group members’ families and how the community is changing.