This business started because a young Kenyan girl would rather end her life than live without hope for her future, and who can blame her for feeling that way? This business continued because a group of people believed it would work and that girl is now in college studying medicine. Do you know why? Because you shop here, making Nakupenda Photography truly moved by love. I've been dreaming of doing more, sponsoring more kids, going farther, but now there's this need and I can't meet it with my business. But it was never about me anyways. It was about these girls, and you, wanting to make a difference.
Meet Deborah.
Deborah was born June 17, 1999 in Kisumu to Lilian and Peterlis Ouma. The family moved to Nairobi and settled in the vast Kibera slum. Life had its ups and downs for the family but they remained hopeful, but then tragedy struck. In December of 2007 following Kenya's general elections, the country erupted into chaos over the results. Kibera became dangerous and violent. Deborah's dad went missing and wasn't found until days later, dead and decomposing in a sewage trench.
Lillian, Deborah's mom, quickly gathered the children and went back to her rural hometown hoping to take up her old profession of being a tailor. However her business premises had been raided and torched. So she turned to cleaning houses in and effort to keep her children safe and fed. Deborah was forced to stay home and care for her younger children while her mom sought work, she missed school and started to fall behind, much to her dismay. It was a very trying time for the little girl.
Then life changed again. Following the custom of their tribe, her father's brother came to Kibera to claim his inheritance. An inheritance that included Deborah, her siblings and her mother. When the uncle discovered there was few possessions, he started to mistreat the family and spend the nights drinking, frequently coming home drunk. Eventually this marriage led to another pregnancy for Lillian as well as HIV.
By this point in time, Deborah, determined to become a better person, was spending the afternoon's at a friends house pouring over her homework in an effort to catch up. She was permitted to take her 8th grade exams and remarkably passed with a B overall average (this with missing that much school!). With her excellent scores, she was able to get a position in a respectable High School in her home town of Kisumu. With great eagerness she began dreaming of going off to high school with her friends and looking forward to her ultimate goal of becoming a doctor that could really make an impact in her community.
Now, all her friends have started school (school starts in January in Kenya) and Deborah is forced, once again, to remain behind due to the poverty her family faces. She struggles daily with loneliness and a great sense of despair as she faces what her life will be like without a high school education.
Can you imagine being that young, fighting that hard, and being dealt such a blow? In America its just assumed our children will attend high school, sometimes we even have to fight them to go to school. I remember my parents trying to convince me of the importance of college while I only thought about gallivanting around the world. What luxury. I want to give this girl a chance. Don't you? Doesn't your heart just ache? Doesn't her story just make you long for a better world?
Don't just ache and long. Stand up and be the change for her. Be a hero for her. You can go to http://bringingmiracles.com/giving/ and send something her way. Just leave a note in your Paypal donation letting them know you want this to go to Deborah. I believe God will provide for her, but I also believe we are his hands and feet. He has given to you, to give generously to others. Will you hear him when he moves in you?