Healing and Hope for Nancy!
HopeCo has the privilege of serving and caring for children who have come from hard places - abuse, abandonment, exploitation, and extreme poverty. Our mission is to rescue these precious kids and restore them - not just to physical health, but to emotional and spiritual wholeness so that they have a renewed hope for a joyful and healthy future.
Introducing Nancy
One of these children is Nancy. As a 14-year-old in Kenya, Nancy* enjoyed school, was doing well, and had high hopes for her life. Tragically, those hopes disappeared last year when she was abused, horrifically and repeatedly, by a man in her neighborhood. When the abuse was revealed, and while Nancy still lay in the hospital, the man started negotiations with her parents to marry her - as he had done to two other young girls before her. “Her welfare was completely forgotten,” says Hilda Boke, one of our staff members in Kenya. “When she saw 3 or 4 cows offered as reparation for what she had experienced, it was so demeaning.” Thankfully, upon discovering Nancy’s situation, our staff intervened to rescue and protect her. In a loving home, Nancy received trauma-informed counseling, medical care, and the tools she needed to begin to heal. And we have seen God’s work of redemption in her life. She is now back in school and is getting good grades. She has experienced God’s love and can now see that her future is full of hope!
But that’s not all. The Bible is clear that we should “seek justice” on behalf of the oppressed (Isaiah 1:17). And so, HopeCo partnered with another organization to pursue justice for Nancy through Kenya’s legal system. As a result, the perpetrator was recently imprisoned for life and will never have the opportunity to hurt Nancy, or any other girl, ever again. Hilda described this as a “landmark ruling” in a country where so much violence against girls and women goes unpunished. Early in 2022, we will launch a new “safe house” in Kenya for more girls just like Nancy – providing them with protection, helping them heal from past trauma, and helping them look ahead to the future with hope!
*Name and photograph has been changed to protect identity
Join the rescue team for vulnerable girls in Kenya
With your help, HopeCo’s response to the needs of vulnerable women and girls in Kenya includes:
RESCUE AND HEALING for girls escaping abuse. Our new safe house will provide care and support for up to 10 girls who need protection, love, and Biblical trauma-informed counseling.
EMPOWERMENT of vulnerable young women through training programs that provide them with the skills needed to earn an income and care for their families.
ADVOCACY by speaking out and acting on behalf of those in need, training families and community leaders, and working with the authorities to seek justice for the defenseless.
You can be part of the rescue team by becoming a HopeCo Partner, and committing $100 every month for girls living in the new safe house! Your partnership will transform the lives of these hurting and vulnerable girls and will equip them with the support, love, education, and tools they need to lead joyful and purposeful lives.
Will you respond and help rescue girls like Nancy who desperately need safety, love, and a chance to heal?