A Story of Child Sponsorship

a success story.

John was the smallest of the street boys driven to the streets of Nakuru, an outer town of Nairobi, at the age of six, when his step mother refused to support him alongside her own two sons.

Like thousands of kids on the street of Kenya, John experienced many traumas while trying to stay alive. He walked many miles with some other kids to Nairobi where he lived by the riverside, begging for food. John was rescued by our partner program, Alfajiri Street kids at the age of 12 (Yes, that’s 6 years of surviving the streets) after he was injured in a building collapse. He spent more than a year in hospital learning to walk again, and he still sustains injuries to this day for which he  needs urgent corrective surgery.

He has been a sponsored child through Alfajiri Street kids since 2014. Child sponsorship has changed his life by allowing him a safe home, education and all the medical attention he has needed.

David is an intelligent boy who is naturally creative and gifted, writing and performing his own songs, painting, drawing, constructing, inventing and is loved by all who know him.

This year he began vocational training at a Nairobi bakery and confectionary college. He began with hospitality. He is now specializing in cake making and decoration which suit his creative talents. His dream is to be completely healed of his injuries from his accident, to create in his own bakery and to sing his songs.

Each of our child sponsorship stories come with new beginnings, ongoing challenges and successes. David for example, suffered damage to his lower body when he was crushed in the building collapse. Fundraising efforts to take David to India in the New Year to receive corrective surgery is currently underway.

So does child sponsorship work? The answer is ultimately yes. When you sponsor a child who is part of the Beyond the Orphanage programs, you have a direct impact in that child’s life. Of course, there’s the direct impact on their community but you are merely a degree away from that child, and with them every step of the way. At Beyond the Orphanage, we know exactly how far each and every one of our children are on their journey to self reliant adulthood and many of our sponsors are still in touch with their sponsored children even after they have left the BTO program.

With this said, we would like to extend a big Thank You to all our current child sponsors.

Find out more about our child sponsorship program.