— From Our Executive Director —
Just a short few weeks ago I was sitting with a woman named Jane* in a slum near Nairobi. Our team of seven squeezed into her tiny home — a one-room shelter pieced together with scraps of wood and metal. As we piled in, she told us about her new soap business, her six kids, and the many nights they used to go to sleep hungry.
“And now,” she said, pointing to a teenager, a baby, and a toddler sitting in the dirt alley outside the doorway, “they live here with me, too.”
The teenager, Alice*, is a single mom of the two babies. She was suicidal when Jane first met her a few weeks back. Jane pleaded with her not to go through with it, and even though she was basically a stranger, she offered to take her and her two kids into her own home instead. Alice agreed.
Ten people. One room. No plumbing. In a dangerous and desperate slum. I'm sure my jaw dropped as I listened to her. The generosity didn't quite compute.
New friends Jane* (left) and Alice* (right) and her baby.
Fast forward four weeks. So much has happened since we met Jane. Our team got out of Kenya just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down air travel. Social-distancing is the new normal. People around the globe are ‘sheltering in place.’ Businesses worldwide — from multinational corporations to microenterprises like Jane’s — are slamming to a halt. And no one is exempt from the impact of a disease that is changing life as we know it.
And TOLI is pivoting to meet the challenge. Our field staffers are still connecting with clients every month — now by mobile phone — to give advice on hand washing and health guidelines, to help clients think of creative ways to adapt their businesses to weather this crisis, and, most importantly, to share the love of Jesus Christ and the rescue and refuge only he can provide.
Of course we’re worried about our clients. Their lives and livelihoods were already fragile, lacking the safety nets and security we take for granted. But we also take heart that TOLI clients are in a much stronger position going into this crisis, prepared with training and support that they didn't have before.
Jane, for example, has savings for the first time in her life. Until TOLI, “I never saved before,” she told us. Before her soap business, her only work was day labor — doing laundry or odd jobs — but it wasn't enough, and her kids would often go hungry. Now, her small business is covering her family expenses, and there is even money leftover.
But does Jane really have ‘enough’ to share? I wouldn’t have thought so when I first met her — not enough room, or money, or food. But she shared anyway, and it saved a life — probably three.
“In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.”
— 2 CORINTHIANS 8: 3-4
How will this all turn out for Jane, and for Alice, and their kids? We don’t know. On the face of it, the odds may seem stacked against them. But the odds can’t compute the game-changing power of generosity or courage or creativity — or God’s intervention.
That’s as true for Jane and Alice as it is for all of us right now.
Before we left her home that day, Jane asked us to pray for her. Her request? “Please pray for my ability to love with Christ’s love,” she said. “and for protection from diseases.”
That’s our prayer, too, Jane. That’s our prayer, too.
Abigail McConnell
Executive Director
There’s never been a more important time to share your support with TOLI. We know that your resources during this time are precious and we don’t take it for granted. Please prayerfully consider sharing so that TOLI can continue to minister to those who are most vulnerable.
Jane opened her home to us last month to show us her new business inventory, tell us her story, and pray.
*Names have been changed for privacy.