I have lived in Kenya a little over a year now, and honestly, sometimes I get frustrated because a lot of things we try don’t end up working. The longer I live here, I have a tendency to lose faith in people and stop trusting them where money and things are concerned. Sometimes people ask for help, but they are unwilling to put in the effort or hard work. They do not want to be empowered. Many people in the IDP camp still do not want to work. In reality, they want handouts.
So a few months ago when I felt like I was supposed to give a micro-loan to a family, my first reaction was to question whether it would be a successful venture. However, I have gotten really close to this family over the past year, so God softened my heart toward the idea. They approached me about loaning them half of the money it would take them to buy a cow. They had already purchased one cow with the help of a woman who lives nearby and had paid that back along with other loans given to them by a loan organization. They had earned half the money to purchase another cow with the help of a group they are a part of.
I decided to go for it and give them the loan. We pooled our money–they gave 10,000 ksh (about $100), and I loaned them the other half. They used all of that money to purchase an adult cow. We worked out a weekly payment schedule– they would use the money they earned from selling the milk from one or both of their cows to pay off the loan slowly (in about five months).
So far, they have made every payment. Even when I left for the States and was traveling for a month, they made payments to a friend of mine in my absence. I took a leap of faith, trusting them, and they took a leap of faith too. And God has definitely blessed it!
My friends, Stephen and Purity, are amazing. They have five young girls to feed, put in school, and support, and now they have another cow that God has provided as a resource to continue to do that. They follow God’s leading and set an example of faith, integrity, and hard work for the Tumaini community and the surrounding communities as well. I love their friendship and am excited about what God is going to continue to do in and through them!
