Meet Marieta…
As a Church we had the chance to use some of the Christmas offering to offer small business loans to 10 individuals in Nairobi, Kenya. These loans help people grow their small businesses, thus breaking the cycle of poverty and allowing them to support their families. As I read through the list of people and heard about their families, something caught my attention in this story…I’ll just let you read it.
Marieta is a single mother who is currently raising children in Kayole. These children are orphans who had nowhere to live before Marieta opened her home. She earns a living by selling fruit in her community. Her greatest challenge is paying the school fees. Her personal goal is to raise these children in a loving environment and take care of all their needs.
Marieta wanted this loan to better care for the orphans. It wasn’t about the family and children she had, it was about the family God was calling her to look after. It’s one thing to provide for orphans with your surplus, it’s another to provide for orphans with the little you have. She reminded me of the woman in Luke 21…
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Marieta struck a chord with me because she is serving and giving until it hurts, and then she’s finding a way to serve and give more by getting business training and taking out a loan. For Marieta, life isn’t about her…life is about providing for the least of these, the ones who God has entrusted to her care.
Want to find out how to help entrepreneurs like Marieta? Check out www.BigDent.org
