Meet the trailblazer from rural Kenya who became her family’s first university graduate.
Joyce looks around her village – even her own family – and knows she was granted an extraordinary opportunity. The fifth of her parents seven children, Joyce grew up in a tiny community in Kitui county, where Chalice’s Mercy Care site is based.
“Unfortunately, my older siblings’ potential was hindered by the pervasive poverty which weighed heavily on the lives and prospects of our family,” Joyce says. “My older siblings dropped out of school after completing primary education due to lack of financial resources and other essentials. My widowed mother was incapable of paying the tuition fees for secondary education.”
She was eight years old when she learned that she was sponsored and would, at last, go to school – even if it was to the pre-primary class.
“The happiest moment of my life is when I woke up early one morning to join other children to go to school. It did not matter then that I had to walk the long distance to school. It did not matter that I was to learn with younger children at nursery school. It was a joyous moment to join other children in school.”
“Sponsorship has transformed my life,” Joyce says. “It has empowered me to receive a quality education, medical checkups, nutrition, life skills education, mentorship, and for me and my family to join other families to celebrate Christmas; as well as helping me to discover my incredible value as a child of God.”
Many of her siblings married young, and providing for a family without a high school diploma is an uphill struggle. “My family is an example of many vulnerable families in my village who remain caught up in this poverty trap,” she says, “I could have ended up in the same poverty trap, were it not for the Chalice sponsorship program.”
Today, Joyce is finishing her degree in political science at a public university in the coastal city of Mombasa. She cannot wait to start her job hunt, her diploma in hand.
“I thank you once again for giving me an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty through education that will provide an avenue for me to transform my life, better the lives of my family members and bring change to my community.”
Help break the cycle of poverty for families in need and create lasting change for generations to come. Click here to see the children who are ready to be sponsored today.