10 Year Timeline: Selter + Nancy
“I am ready to face life outside of Neema. My wish is that after graduating, I could open a small business where I would make people's clothes. If God grants me enough money, I will give back to my community by empowering needy families like mine and training them in what Neema has instilled in me,” Selter says.
A restored relationship with family, a community seeing two sisters in a different light, a recognition of the Lord for answering prayers, increased self-confidence, and a desire to give back to others. This is Neema!
Selter and her sister Nancy have been at Neema for three years and are now both finishing their final year working in the Neema Shop and Training Center. But ten years ago, their lives looked a little different.
They are the first two born in a family of eight children living in a slum area where alcoholism and prostitution are prevalent. Their family suffers under extreme material poverty, residing on a little plot of land. They depend on casual labor to provide food and education for their children. Both girls went to school until they were 14 years old but then were unable to continue on to high school because their family couldn’t afford to pay the necessary school supplies and uniforms.
Selter and Nancy came to Neema having dealt with a great deal of rejection and abuse in their lives. But their mother knew the Lord and is grateful to Neema for accepting both girls. Since coming to Neema, Selter and Nancy have grown spiritually while participating in daily times of prayer, worship, and study of Scripture. They’ve passed the Level 1, 2, & 3 National Dressmaking Certification Exams and are now finishing a year of working at the Neema Shop and Training Center. Here they continued to receive counseling and instruction while gaining experience in a real working environment.
Selter, 2019
“It was all laughter for Nancy and Selter at their village and they are filled with joy as they continue finishing their third year,” says Joyce, our Head Tailoring Instructor, as she thinks about these two sweet sisters. It has taken nearly three years for them to forgive their family for some of the hurt they have caused but now both girls are eager to use the skills they’ve developed at Neema to help their mother financially. We couldn’t be more pleased to share that Selter and Nancy are both Neema students who are about to graduate and have each secured employment in a local shop for next year.
Selter says, “Truly God has been faithful to my sister and I. He has strengthened us and rebuild the lost relationship with my dad who has really changed now for the better. If Nancy or I need anything for school, he tries to provide and advises us to work hard. He now praises us to his friends. I can vividly remember when I heard him telling a close neighbor of ours how his two girls are professional tailors and it really brought joy in my heart!”
** Update: As of November of 2019, Selter and Nancy are both employed full time at a local wool shop in Kitale where they are thrilled to be using their tailoring skills.