Joyce

Joyce's story is one that is very common here. Joyce is around 16 years old and is in the equivilent to 9th grade. Her older brother, Joseph, struggled in school and wasn't able to continue past 8th grade. When kids don't do well in school, they are left behind. So, Joyce became the family's next hope. Her mom had a baby around six months ago and there is also a six year old girl at home. Money is tight, as is the case with most people here. The only income their family has is from their dad selling roasted corn on the roadside. It barely covers their food. Sometimes not even that. Besides food, their biggest concern is paying for Joyce's school. Without an education, Joseph's job prospects are few. Manual labor is his only option, if it can be found. Our pastor asked us if we could help them out by giving Joseph a job. We don't have the funds (or need, necessarily) to hire anyone at this point, but we agreed to have him come over a couple times a week to help us with yard work. Even though, we give him the money and he is a young adult, I am sure he hands it right over to his mom. Despite this, they still needed help to pay for Joyce's school. School is the only hope people have here for a better way of life. It's the biggest burden parents have. We know of so many families whose children stay home because they cannot afford to go. It breaks our hearts and we wished we had a giant fund to help them all. Fortunately, the funds were there to cover Joyce's school fees. We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who gives to and prays for African Harvest of Hope and us as well. You are able to directly give hope to kids like Joyce. We can't everyone, but we do what we can. We don't always call attention to help given to individuals here, but we want you to know that you make a difference. Really and truely.

Thank you.