KenkenJoseph-2016-00-001S2

Birthday: February 16, 2005 Sponsor #: 2016-00-001S

Kenken is fifteen years old and lives in Galette Chambon. His birthday is February 16th. Before we met Kenken, he had never had an opportunity to go to school. His parents had him when they were in their elder years and they both became sick and died when he was young. At that time they were living in the village of Cha-cha near BelFontaine. He doesn’t remember how old he was when they died. After his parents died, he went to live with an uncle in Ti Source. However, his uncle could not take care of him, so he asked if a lady in the village could take care of Kenken, then the uncle moved to Brazil. Kenken moved in with her, but things didn’t get any better. Although she fed him and let him sleep at her house, she was never been able to afford to pay for his school. We eventually found out that it wasn’t that she couldn’t send him to school, but rather that she wanted him to work at her house as her child slave, also known as a restovek. Eventually, Kenken found his way to our church at Hope Center and accepted Christ as his Savior! He comes to our church and has received new hope in Christ for his future. Recently Kenken found himself in another desperate situation. He moved away from the restovek situation to another home with similar conditions. Someone in the house he was living in became jealous of him and burned all of his belongings. Now a local pastor has taken him in, but he has small children of his own and can’t afford to pay for his school.  We have someone who helps pay his room and board at the pastor’s house, but we are looking for a new sponsorship for Kenken to help pay for his school. We are hoping he will be able to go to the BGM Primary school in the fall if we can find a sponsor. Kenken’s situation is very unique. He has no family at all that he can turn to for help. He wants desperately to get an education, but he is very far behind. We have teachers at BGM Primary who can help him get caught up and hopefully continue on with his school. In his spare time, Kenken likes to play soccer and hang out with friends and tend to people’s goats. His favorite food is “everything.” When he grows up, he wants to drive a big truck as a tap tap driver.