Gift: The reason Many Hopes exists

Gift  •  Kenya

We call Gift our founder: Many Hopes exists because of her.

She never knew her father. When she was six years old, her mother died of HIV and she became the caregiver to her infant brother. One day she was begging for food on the streets of Mombasa as usual, with brother strapped to her back. She was unaware that he was already dead, as she carried him around. Gift, a small child herself, was now completely alone.

Gift with some of her fellow Many Hopes alums

ON THE RISE

Then a local journalist met Gift and did something extraordinary. He brought her into his house, hired a woman to care for her, and began to raise her as his daughter. As Gift healed and started to thrive in school and life, she began to talk about her desire to help other children the way she was being helped. She inspired the creation of what is now Many Hopes.

We (and by “we” we mean you), sponsored Gift through high school, and she lived in the first home ever built by Many Hopes. Today she is at university in Nairobi. She desires to battle the injustice that she survived and knows children still face today. Gift has been elected to student council. “I’ve gone into politics,” she said on a recent phone call with a smile.

Henri Nouwen tells us “the great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.”

Gift is a leader. She speaks into the lives of other children in a way that only someone who was once in their shoes can. She motivates and inspires and encourages them. Because of her, others will have miraculous journeys from injustice to influence too.

You are making it possible for children like Gift to be in school. Because of you, they will be able to help others.