Purity's Story: Forgiveness and Reconciliation with Her Father

As with many of our Neema students, Purity comes from an unstable household. Her mother abandoned the family leaving her father with the children and a small plot of land. Since then, her father has struggled to care for his kids, including Purity. Fortunately, she got connected to Neema and has spent the past two years processing past abuses, learning skills and self care, and parenting her little boy, Ryan. But because her father threatened to harm her, Purity, now 18-years-old, relocated to her grandmother’s home during the long Covid break. 

Purity’s father was provoked and threatened her and her son after Purity disrespected him in public, a cultural taboo in Kenya. But he quickly regretted his behavior and has felt bad since, but was unsure who to talk to. Thankfully, our Kenyan staff team not only works with our students, but their families, and they went and helped him through his troubles for which he’s grateful. He’s been looking for a stable job to take care for his children but has admitted to drinking alcohol to minimize his stress level. While under the influence, he ends up doing bad things. And his friends have also deserted him since he has no money and they see him as useless. But he longs to see his children have a happy home.

While visiting with him, one of our counselors offered affirmation, reminding him he’s not “the worst person” and that God can change him and help him find peace and joy. She encouraged him not to drown his sorrows by drinking. Not only will that affect his health, it’ll draw him further apart from Purity. And she reminded him to always approach situations with love and forgiveness. He assured us that he’s ready to make a change for his family and be a responsible parent.

Then in September, Purity came to our staff and pleaded with them to take her to her father so she could ask for forgiveness for disrespecting him. She had been learning about integrity and forgiveness during school devotions and counseling and felt remorseful for insulting her father. So our staff agreed, took her to her father, and Purity humbly asked for forgiveness from her father while kneeling.

He was quick to answer by saying, “I love you so much, my daughter, and I have been asking myself what went wrong. But I want to tell you in front of Irine and Enoch (two of our Kenyan staff) that I forgive you and that I love you with baby Ryan.” He said that this was the day God wanted him to forgive his daughter, and because she humbled herself, he wanted to bless her.

Purity exclaimed “Thank you, dad!”, and feeling very emotional, began to cry. They hugged each other as a sign of reconciliation.

Her father shared, "I couldn’t believe that Purity asked me for forgiveness after she disrespected me. I had sworn not to forgive her, but seeing her so humble and genuinely sorry, my heart just melted. If my daughter can humble herself, there is a God at Neema, and you are definitely teaching our girls the right things.”