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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Christmas and Salvation

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Transform a Child's Life Through Sponsorship

Habari (hello), my name is Peter

  • location

    Kenya

  • 13 yrs. old

    03-03-2012

Entered the program: May 2025

Peter lives with his grandmother, little brother and cousin in a two-room house made of mud, with a dirt floor and a sheet metal roof. The house has no electricity and the family uses candles for light. Water is fetched from a nearby river and boiled for consumption. They have an outdoor kitchen that uses firewood for cooking, and an outdoor pit latrine made of sheet metal that is in poor condition.

Peter is a healthy young man, but has a defect in his right eye from birth that requires medical evaluation. Peter’s mother left their father due to physical abuse, and then ultimately succumbed to substance abuse, and abandoned the children to their grandmother’s care. She struggles to provide for all their needs.

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.