We met Leah* in 2017. She was in her early twenties and was struggling to care for her three young children following the violent murder of her husband. Leah was facing many challenges. Unable to meet her, or her children’s, basic needs, she was literally struggling to keep her family alive. On top of this, she was experiencing conflict with community members. Leah told us she was, “losing hope in life”.

Leah lives in ‘absolute poverty’, which is defined as a severe deprivation of basic human needs (e.g. food, water and shelter). In Kisumu, where Leah lives – and Every Life has a mission’s base – 60% of people live in absolute poverty (almost three times the Kenyan average). That’s over half a million people. Each person has their own story that needs to be heard, each person has potential that need to be uncovered.

When Every Life’s Frontline team met Leah in 2017 – it was just in time. We’ve walked alongside her for three years now. To begin with we were able to meet her urgent need for food. As part of our Life Groups, she was equipped with a wide range of skills such as cooking nutritious meals on a tight budget, saving money and setting up a business. She also joined our discipleship group where she learnt more about Jesus.

There is still a way to go before Leah and her family can fully support themselves, but we’ve seen such a change in Leah. She now has hope for the future! She is looking forwards to becoming a hairdresser as a result of the business and life skills she has learnt as part of our weekly Life Group.

Rose, who leads our Kenya team says, “All of us want to see the best come out of people like Leah.”  Rose noticed that Leah had potential to be a great leader, so she is now the secretary of our Life Group – supporting the other women in the group. During the COVID-19 lockdown, she worked hard to ensure that group members were well informed about the essential information they needed – many had no way to access the news – so Leah provided such an important role.

Leah says, “I want to thank Almighty God for how far he has brought me, and also Every Life for the Life Group. I have realised that I can achieve my goals that I had given up on and I have grown spiritually as well. May God bless the Every Life team for showing me love, and our entire village.”

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*Names have been changed to protect those mentioned.