On Friday, November 10th, over 600 people gathered at Neema to celebrate the grand opening of Neema’s new campus. Friends and family, pastors and partners, village elders and chiefs, along with the Neema staff, students, and board members came together to commemorate what has been a long time in the making — Neema finally having a home of its own.
Read MoreBy 10:00am, students, staff, and guardians had arrived at Neema and were waiting for the festivities to begin. Neema’s annual Fashion Show is a special time of year for students, staff, and alumni, and the Kenya staff team was thrilled to celebrate the students’ hard work and encourage their creativity!
Read MoreWhen spending time on campus, the environment feels more like a family than like a community. And at Neema, children are welcomed as part of this family. They’re even provided with counseling to help them prepare to readapt to life outside of Neema when their mother graduates. Meanwhile, their moms are given the opportunity to develop and learn new skills through our training and livelihood programs.
Read MoreAt Neema’s recent mentorship roundtable, Neema alumni stood up in front of our current students — those just a couple of years younger than them — and teachers to encourage those in our program today. They shared with these current students that they should be resilient and learn to persevere through situations.
Read MoreI realized we’d been walking for over a mile. After walking a little further and going around a small densely populated patch of trees and brush, we finally arrived at Neema’s alternate water source.
Read MoreOne of our first year students, Catherine, recently shared, "Being at Neema is reducing my stress because of the love they are showing me and my child. Ever since I gave birth to my child, no one has loved and accepted us like Neema has."
Read MoreSince Brenda joined Neema in January of 2021, her grandparents have seen a change in her. Her grandfather shared, “Brenda is really responsible and clean. She doesn’t need to be followed around to do her work. Even in her talking, she’s growing and maturing.” Her grandmother says, “Brenda is a great girl. She is disciplined and is an example. When I went away for two weeks to bury my mother, Brenda was left with the other kids, and she was responsible for taking care of them. She is calm.”
Read MoreI just came back from Neema a couple of weeks ago—not that I did not want to go earlier but, because of COVID-19, we postponed this trip until we felt it was safe for both our Kenyan colleagues and us to travel there. Since I started working at Neema back in January, I have talked (mostly over Zoom, COVID oblige) with the teams here and in Kenya about Neema. I have seen pictures and videos. And I even learned some Swahili. So, in a way, going to Neema was not like going to an unfamiliar place.
Read MoreThanks to our vantage point of “walking alongside”, we are blessed to witness the efforts and results of the execution of Neema's mission. As accountants, we are privileged to support and assist the Neema team as they responsibly steward the financial resources entrusted to them by donors in order to carry out the work God has called them to.
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