Jane's Story
by Jennifer Roth, Can Do Kids International Executive Director
Jane (center) with her Can Do Kids “family”
A young, bright-eyed and articulate girl got up to give a speech in front of a crowd of almost 800 students and our visiting team from the US. Needless to say, we were impressed by Jane and asked the teachers more about her after the event.
It turned out that Jane's mother had died of AIDS when she was younger. Being the oldest of four children she became the primary caretaker of her entire family - finding food, feeding them, making sure they got to school … She missed a couple of years of primary school but she was determined to finish her education once her youngest sister was older.
This is Jane's little sister, Cecilia, who had spent some time in an orphanage in Nairobi. Now, with help of Can Do Kids and Cecilia’s local community, she is back home.
When we met Jane as an eighth-grade graduate and top student of her class she was ready to advance to Secondary School but would not be able to do so without help. Because of her academic achievement, a Kenyan bank offered Jane a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious girls boarding school. However, Jane was not sure how her family would be taken care of while she was away. Her dad was around, but struggling with alcoholism.
The Brucker family who traveled with our Can Do Kids International team met Jane and felt led to "adopt" her family. While Jane was away, Can Do Kids team members arranged for local community and extended family members to check in on their needs and let us know what the kids needed. They would make sure that food would be delivered to the children if needed as well as school uniforms and supplies. We were even able to work with the local technical school to build bunk beds so all the children could sleep in their own beds.
Jane’s father, sister, and two brothers in front of their house
Jane was on break from school and spent two days with our team in June 2017. This time, she was able to be on the giving end and come along and help wash the clothes of a family infested with jiggers as well as visit other families in need of encouragement.
As we walked down a dirty, dusty road to reach one family in a remote area of central Kenya, Jane turned to me and said,
“You know that you are bringing hope to these children. I was just like them until God brought you as an answer to prayer. I was utterly hopeless and saw no future for me or my family. But when we first met five years ago I had hope for a future.”
Jane shared a couple of worship songs that she had written with our group. These songs expressed her gratefulness to God for bringing hope into her life. What a blessing to know that our prayers had been answered – we ask God continually that our efforts will bring physical hope, which will then bring spiritual hope, which will then bring glory to God and not to us!
Jane is now a college graduate with a degree in tourism and hospitality. Jane is currently helping CDK Kenya with administrative tasks and hosting groups.
If you would like to help support a student or a family like Jane's, click on the button below to see our sponsorship page.