Mary’s Story

In the extremely poor village of Kijabe, Kenya, there lives a crippled widow named Mary. After her husband died of AIDS a few years ago, she struggled to find food.

While she suffers from HIV, too, Mary’s greatest challenge is a nerve problem in her legs. She has to use crutches to walk and can’t move very far. Most of the day, the pain keeps her seated, so she spends hours reading her Bible while her children are at school.

Mary’s two young children, Robert and Elizabeth, were getting a meal every day through Forward Edge’s feeding program at the local primary school. Every once in a while, there were enough leftovers to bring some home for Mary. 

Most days, though, Mary went hungry. She had become stick thin and constantly worried where she’d find her next meal.

Then came the pandemic. Quarantine measures forced our program to pivot from its normal food service at schools to delivering food packages to homes. That’s how we discovered Mary. God used the pandemic to bring us to her.

Immediately, our staff made sure Mary had consistent, nutritious meals. In time, they were even able to build the family a new home and buy Mary a new stove.

Today, months later, Mary’s anxiety is gone. She’s much healthier, has regained lost weight, and is happy again. She even has the strength to go sit outside her home and bask in the sun.

God reached out to Mary with His tangible love not just in spite of this horrible pandemic, but through it. A sweet reminder that no matter what hardships you face, God will work through them.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
-Romans 8:28

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Transform a Child's Life Through Sponsorship

Habari (hello), my name is Zipporah

  • location

    Kenya

  • 8 yrs. old

    12-14-2017

Entered the program: May 2025

Zipporah lives with her grandmother and big brother in a two-room rented wood house with a dirt floor. The house has prepaid electrical lighting which is paid by her uncle, and tapped water which is boiled for drinking. The family has an outdoor kitchen and uses firewood for cooking. They have no bathing facility and share a communal pit latrine which is in poor condition.

Zipporah is an orphan. Her grandmother, who is ill, offered to raise her and her brother after the death of her mother who was a single parent. The family lives in extreme poverty and depends on Zipporah’s uncle who is a casual laborer struggling to make ends meet.

Zipporah’s big brother, Peter, is also in the Mama Beth program.

Sponsorship Level What's this?

Three $38 sponsorships are needed to cover the complete holistic care of one child. Cover one, two, or three sponsorships.