“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.”
MOTHER THERESA
To Educate a Girl
The cost of educating a girl depends upon local needs, the level of schooling, and foreign exchange rates. Annually,
$30 provides school supplies to a Quechua child living in the high Andes of Peru
$100 funds the education of a child displaced by war in Cameroon
$160 educates a Joy World high school girl in Kenya
$250 provides a primary school scholarship to a Mayan girl in Guatemala
$350 trains an out-of-school tribal girl to be a nurse’s aide in India
$400 supports an after-school tutorial center for 40 children in India
Making a Difference
CBB’s average cost of educating a girl in the developing world is a fraction of most organizations–it operates differently:
Miriam Wanjiku's Story
Miriam was a ten year old orphan living with her drunken, alcoholic grandfather who, for a bottle of beer, sold her to his drinking partners for sex. Then he sold her in marriage, also for a bottle of beer. The marriage lasted one night and Miriam found herself thrown out on the street where she lived for the next three months.
Miriam was brought to CBB’s hostels by the local chief who found her going from house to house in her neighborhood begging for food. CBB did not hesitate to accept Miriam even though it was obvious that she was a very troubled girl, described by the matrons as being more difficult to care for than any ten other girls put together. And yet, her heart was in the right place, Miriam just didn’t know right from wrong.
Now Miriam has healed from her immense troubledness and ranks well in her class at school. She volunteers to help without being asked and is a cooperative member of her hostel community. Miriam is loved and appreciated by her “sisters” and adults alike, and of all the hostel girls she is one of the most thankful and appreciative for having been rescued.
Miriam has now become one of the most responsible girls in her community, being designated as “Captain” of the girls charged with cleaning up the Joy World compound, the most difficult task that can be given to a girl.
New girls at Joy World
Edinah Kanana (left) is nine years old and in the third grade. When her drunken father neglected his children, her mother abandoned him to live with another man. When he refused to accept Edinah, the neighbors brought Edinah to our home that was already over-full. We returned Edinah to them. But Edinah brought herself back, and again was sent away. Again, she came back and again was sent away, again and again. Then, Sunday morning, there was Edinah with our girls in church. We decided to accept Edinah and to add 20 new beds to our hostels for her and other girls like her.
Moreen Kawira, ten years old and in the fourth grade, was abandoned by her mother when she was one year old. She lived with her father until he began sleeping with her. Moreen then left him to live with her neighbors and on the street.
Florinda Gacheri, age six and in nursery school, and Sharon Mukiri, age eight and in the first grade, and their mother left their violent father. When their mother re-married, their step-father rejected the girls and threatened to kill them. Florinda, Sharon and their mother then walked 15 miles to Joy World. When the girls were accepted, their mother turned and ran away.
Pamela Kawira, nine years old and in the third grade, was abandoned by her mother when she was an infant and was molested by her father who is now in jail.
