Kethia

Our next student profile is for one of our most successful returning students, Molendeke Kethia. When we introduced you to her a year and a half ago, she was living with her father together with eight siblings and some of their children, and her mother had passed away some time ago. One of the pictures above shows her at home helping her father crush crocks by hand. Many people throughout Kinshasa crush large rocks into gravel by hand to sell to construction companies for roads or concrete work. Her father unfortunately passed away less than a year ago and now their family is living with grandparents. Kethia was out of school for three years, but has made quick progress with Hope Sparked and will be ready for secondary school, a milestone that many children in the DRC never attain (The UNICEF estimate for secondary school participation in the country is 35% for males and 28% for females – the education system in DRC consists of six years of primary school and six years of secondary school).

She is a very intelligent girl and you can see her confidence growing. She told us last year her goal was to become a nurse, and you can see her in this video proudly wearing her school uniform and stating her intent to become, “a great doctor in this country.” One of the things that is often most striking to visitors to Congo, myself included, is the optimism, gratitude, and happiness exuded by people with so much less economic opportunity than others enjoy. Kethia is a great example of that; in a short video where she talks about losing both her parents, she mentions grace and happiness at her opportunities three times. While we know that not every story will be as inspiring as hers and many children will face huge hurdles to overcoming a cycle of poverty, giving Kethia the opportunity to attend school, even for a few years, is worth all the effort we’ve put into Hope Sparked and more. Please consider becoming part of the community of donors that makes her dreams a possibility.

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