Written by Lucy, HHFL Project Manager
One of the beautiful values of being raised up in an African setup is family, community, a village. In spite of the evolving dynamics of our culture and lifestyles, there are certain things that remain unchanged, and these are the things that make us African.
In any neighborhood, people look up to one another at all times. This is irrespective of what season of the year it is, be it for happy occasions and or the not-so-happy ones. It is that person-to-person value between us that makes life beautiful even when circumstances may not allow us to have so much material things in our hands. We have learned to share the little we have with so much joy!
HHFL is a community in itself, and as more and more of us grow into adulthood, the more we learn to stick out our head for one another. This has been seen in many exciting instances that we are glad to share with everyone here:
We have had a number of our young ladies involved with church weddings. During such times, our alumni have mobilized themselves to not only be present for the weddings but as well as contributing cash to buy a suitable wedding gift for one of their own. They also form part of the committees that do the planning for such occasions. The most recent wedding we had was for Priscah.
Another occasion we have seen our young people come together was during the recent bereavement of Sharon Akinyi. She lost her 3yr old son a few days after contracting malaria and it has been a tough time for her. Our alumni came together to offer comfort and financial support for the burial arrangements.
Around the same time, Mercy was blessed with a newborn baby girl who got hospitalized with post-natal complications. A good number of our alumni came through to offer encouragement and support Mercy in offsetting the medical bill which would otherwise have been an uphill task for her on her own.
During covid and post covid recovery times, our alumni have looked up to each other when some of them lost jobs. They stayed in touch and supported any one who was going through job loss. This was either through job referrals and financial support. Some of the alumni that have benefited from job referrals from within the alumni network are: Mercy Njoki gave Chris a referral for a waiter job at Artcafe where he is working in one of the food outlets of the high-end restaurant; she also referred Joyce Wambui to the same establishment and in turn Joyce referred Michelle Wanjiku. Each of them have been kept busy and earning their daily bread there.
Early this year, Muli got a very rare chance to intern in an horticultural farm for his diploma in Agriculture that he is studying for at The Kitale National Polytechnic. He was to be posted in the farm in Nanyuki and the alumni came in to provide him with support for his immediate personal effects needs and rent for two months!
One of our widows, and an old time volunteer at HHFL, Mama Brian, suffered from a motorcycle accident. Her children came in to support her go through the medication needs and taking care of her as she could not do much on her own. These are the children we have raised through the HHFL programmme and are now living their independent lives. Brian, Christopher, Erick and Pharise.
Through the Stellar Generation Kenya, a brainchild of Mercy’s, our alumni have been coming to mentor the younger ones who are still in primary and high school. They set aside time within the school holidays when everyone is home for exciting, enganging and enlightening sessions where guests from different walks of life and careers are invited to give insight to our kids.
It is a very satisfying feeling to see the family spirit continue being embraced and nurtured by our alumni, and it gives us a very promising tomorrow when we know that they can pull together as the small village that they are.
