Eunice’s Story
March 2022
My name is Eunice Juma and am 23 years old. I come from a small village called Buchirinya in Mumias Town. I am a total orphan after the death of both my parents. My childhood wasn’t a good one because I had to be relocated every now and then to different relatives which means I had to change schools too, that affected me in one way or the other but the good part of it is that I went through education despite all the challenges.
I joined Nasio Trust at the age of 14 in 2011 when some visitors from Nasio Trust – St. Irene came to our school and I was in a music group in Primary School that I used to solo and one of the visitors called John Cornelius liked my singing and was interested in knowing me more and that is how I got into the program. I count it a blessing and I believe that it was in God’s plan for me to get such opportunity.
After joining the program, a year later I joined secondary school and through Nasio Trust I managed to enrol in one of the local schools where I completed my Secondary Examination in 2015. I never felt like an orphan because I had found a new family at Nasio Trust who really loved me and cared for me so much.
I started volunteering with Nasio Trust after my secondary school, I had no career choice by then so I had to think of one, I was placed in the Social work department and as time went by, I began to develop interest in social work and settled on taking a course in that field. During my volunteer period, I got pregnant and delivered my baby Mike in November 2016 and felt that I was a disgrace to myself, my supporter and Nasio Trust family but despite everything that happened, I never gave up and I really thank God for my supporter John who believed in me and agreed to continue with the sponsorship. I took care of my child for two years as I continued volunteering at the project. Life was not the same for me since I had another added responsibility of the baby. I used to carry him with me everyday because I had no one to take care of him at home. I really thank God for the support I got from Nasio Trust family who took the responsibility of giving me a hand of taking care of the baby while doing my work.
I never gave up and luckily I joined college in September 2018 in one of the colleges in Western Kenya called The Sigalagala National Polytechnic where am studying Social Work and Community Development at a Diploma level. I am now in my second year and was looking forward to completing next year but the bad thing is that we have been affected with Covid – 19 which means we might repeat our classes again for another one year to recover the lost year.
Currently, I am employed with Nasio as a Youth Program Assistant that’s in the youth Department. I just finished college December and am working as I wait to graduate.
I really thank God for this opportunity and I count it a blessing for this opportunity. I am planning I giving back in the project after school even if I will be employed elsewhere. I love Nasio Trust.
“I’d like to nominate Eunice Juma for recognition. I started sponsoring her many years ago. She is an amazing young lady. Against all the odds she has recently completed a college course and has just signed a contract to work for Nasio. She has done so well.” – John (her sponsor)
This story is listed in: Achievements, Child Stories, Inspirational Women