WOW I – My personal view
My name is Steve. Early 2005 I was doing my internship at a Mathare project. It was during this period that Lepta was born – at least on paper. I had thought about Lepta for about four years before that but at that moment I knew that I must see it become a reality. I was excited and started laying it all out on paper and sharing it with my close friends. After a few months the excitement wore off and some of the people I considered key in my life told me that I should not pursue Lepta then. They said it was a great thing but I should first establish myself in my career. I was shaken and since they were people who I knew cared for me I thought that maybe I shouldn’t do Lepta. So I stepped back though in my heart I longed to run with Lepta. Within a few weeks I lost all sense of purpose and my life hit an all time low. By end of the year I had decided that Lepta was just a good idea that I really did not want to pursue any more. I decided that I would get a job, make money, raise a family and live like everyone else does. Lepta and all the sacrifice I knew would be required for it was just not worth it. Had I not previously served in Mathare for years and elsewhere and given my all? Yet I had nothing to show for it.
Before all this I had already started working with one girl from Mathare who I was assisting get money for school fees. In December 2005 as I planned how to approach her and tell her that she had to look for another way of continuing her education I received an email from some friends I had met a few months earlier. They were interested in supporting the girl for one year. I was happy for the girl but I really didn’t want to be a part of it. When I met her, I could not bring myself to tell her that I really could not work with her anymore. So I decided that I will just be a channel for her school fees and nothing else. That meant that Lepta would operate but at a minimal.
Soon I started coming out of the despair I had fallen into and I decided that maybe this was worth it. I approached two friends who were close to me, Antony and Liz, and asked them to join me run Lepta. They agreed and Lepta started its operations. Within a few weeks we had three more girls in desperate situations get assistance through Lepta and I started seeing the change and miracles happen in their lives. In a few months Liz had to leave but John, Andrew, Rose, Mary and Grace joined as part of the founders and we all worked together in laying the foundations of Lepta.
Sometimes I wonder where the lives of the girls would be if I had given up on Lepta. I wonder where my life would be. 2006 has been the best year of my life so far. I have seen hope restored and faith grow in lives of people who had completely given up. I have experienced such joy and I have never known such peace and contentment. God has been so gracious to me. I now know for sure that there is nothing impossible in this world. If God could use me to be a part of such that I have seen He can do it with you. I was not sure I should start Lepta. I did not have money for my own transport and food and it looked foolish to think I could help the girls get money for their school fees. In that year (2006) alone we somehow paid school fees for seven girls besides doing other things.
I don’t know how this story can help you. But maybe you are meant to do a “lepta” and in the midst of your uncertainty or whatever crazy situation step out and follow that which is in your heart. You never know, you might just change a life.
