Living on $2 a Day

Tears streaming down her face, pregnant teen Lana sat in front of us. This open-aired meeting room in rural Kenya became a sacred place as she shared her heartbreaking story of family rejection and despair. Growing up poor, fatherless, and in a dysfunctional family, she found herself utterly abandoned when finding she was pregnant.

Through a friend, God brought her to Youth for Christ Kenya’s Crisis Pregnancy Center. As the house mother Jennifer sat with her arm around her, Lana shared, through her tears, of the care and hope she found in the place, a place where she will remain until she has given birth and can move to a stable environment with her child. She is one of thirteen pregnant teens Youth for Christ is currently caring for at the center.

Earlier in the day, we visited the Kibera slum in Nairobi. Kibera, the largest slum in Africa with about 2.5 million people, has roughly 700,000 young people. In a place of ramshackle homes, where people live on about $2 a day, God has planted a Youth for Christ center. Its director, a young man who grew up and still lives in the slum, spoke with joy of how he came to know Christ there and of how honored he is to lead that outreach.

You, through Youth for Christ International, are making a difference in the lives of broken and hurting teenagers worldwide. In the slums and rural areas of Kenya, in the Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon, in the neighborhoods and schools in the U.S. and Canada, on the streets of Bolivia, and in over 100 other nations, God has planted Youth for Christ. And with Youth for Christ, he has planted people with hearts beating with His compassion for young people.

One young person, who was loved by Youth for Christ people (by you) and who came to know and follow Christ, said:

He changed my life… He taught me to forgive and showed me who I was, who He was, and what we could do when we are together. I thank God for not stopping fighting for me. And that He took me to Youth for Christ to be able to be healed and led by special people who have turned their lives into the hands of God.

Thank you for what you are doing in reaching youth for Christ. Your gifts of $50, $100, $1,000, or whatever you can give, are making a world of difference in the lives of young people. You are the “hands of God” loving young people in His name. Please give as you feel led this month.

With gratitude,

Dave Brereton

International Director

P.S. You are there! Through your gifts you are helping reach young people everywhere. Thank you!