CBB’s program in Kenya responds to the widespread and culturally acceptable abandonment of girls who are victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse as well as poverty. CBB gives scholarships to 75 abandoned, orphaned and sexually molested girls. The scholarships cover tuition, exam fees, uniforms, school shoes, and school supplies.
Without a scholarship, a poor girl is typically in school for a month or two and then is sent home until her fees are paid. Only then can she return to school for another month or two. This goes on all year long, year after year. It is no wonder that the average grade in the public schools is a C -.
Joy World
Joy World gives a home to 75 girls from some of the worst circumstances imaginable—girls who’ve been abandoned by their parents, who’ve been sexually molested or threatened with being raped, who’ve been kept out of school to be household servants, who’ve had to sell their bodies to get food to eat, orphans and street girls.
The girls at Joy World are survivors–in recovering from the abuse and neglect they have endured, they develop skills and perseverance other children don’t have. The paternalistic Kenyan culture that systematically abuses children is replaced by their unique community where the girls’ innate kindness and positive energy are free to flourish.
Joy World is more than a home. It empowers girls to be young women of character and responsibility by transforming them from being victims of abuse and abandonment into achieving extra-ordinary success in their studies at school. The girls are taught to grow up as persons of integrity, role models for others, and future community leaders.
Before his death, our founder and Executive Director, Lawrence Tharp, worked hard to develop an “endowment” to generate the income needed to fund Joy World costs. The endowment consists of agricultural fields to grow food for the girls as well as apartment complexes to generate income for running the hostel. We appreciate Lawrence’s foresight in creating a sustainable model for these girls. The hostel costs are covered by the endowment, and CBB is covering the cost of uniforms, books, and school fees for the Joy World girls.
JOY WORLD GIRLS
Betty Nyambura's Story
When she was three years old, Betty befriended Purity Mwendwa, Joy World’s founder, at a prayer meeting She explained that she didn’t have a father like the other girls there had, and that she had never seen her mother who she said was in the city working, but someday would come to care for her. From her grandmother, Purity learned that Betty’s mother had in fact died in childbirth without naming her father—Betty was born an orphan.
When Purity began caring for her, buying her clothes, etc., Betty decided that she was her mother. CBB gave her grandmother funds for her nursery school fees, but the money was misspent and so Betty was in and out of school, with her fees sometimes paid, sometimes not. She was below average in her studies.
CBB therefore brought Betty to Joy World where she immediately began to thrive. She became the best student in her class, where she has remained ever since. Betty has been the class Prefect, the student leader who takes charge of the class in her teacher’s absence, whether in the classroom or on the playground. Betty is now in the eighth grade and has received recognition for being the best student in her school.
Betty is one of the best performing girls in her Joy World community. Although she studies assiduously, Betty is always ready to help when needed.
