End of Year Giving

Let me introduce you to one of our Women Equality Empowerment Project (WEEP) children and show you how your generosity is making a generational impact on Kenya.

Vickie and Vivian

My name is Vivian and I am 23 years old. I was raised in Kibera slums, Nairobi, Kenya. I have vivid memories of how my mum, Everlyn, became quite ill and my father abandoned us. At that time having one meal a day was a luxury for me and my four siblings. Life in the slum was so hard that most of my childhood friends joined criminal gangs to fend for themselves. My Mum was accepted into WEEP and our lives changed dramatically for the better. We had food on the table and all of us kids got back in school. Mum graduated from WEEP in 2010 after learning income generating skills. She opened a shop in Kibera with another graduate. Mum began to not only make money but to save money! Many WEEP graduates are now buying land outside the slums and moving their families. But my Mum's dream was different. She wanted to move back upcountry to help women with HIV/AIDS in her rural area of Kakamega. She is now the Centre Coordinator of one of HEART's newest WEEP Centers!

Everlyn, Vivian's Mother, with Vickie

I scored well in my primary education and finished high school in 2014 with good grades and have now been accepted into the University Nursing Program! I will help others like my Mum is doing only I want to do it as a nurse and serve my people!

This is a common story at HEART- the generational impact of WEEP- representing 288 women, all of them mothers representing over 860 children. Most of these women could not have survived AIDS and their children would have been lost to the streets! Now, they are owning businesses, their own land and homes, and leading other abandoned women out of the grip of disease and poverty. WEEP is only one of the eight interrelated programs of HEART that including:

• WEEP
• Freedom for Girls
• Nutritional Intervention
• Institutional Strengthening
• Clean Water
• Education
• Malaria Prevention
• Kids for School

See more photos and stories like Vivian's on our Facebook Page.