Meet Our FHC Football Team - Stephen Wainaina

Tom O'Hern sat down with a few members of the FHC Korogocho slum football team and asked them to tell you about life in Korogocho and their hopes and dreams for a better life. Here is what Stephen Wainaina had to say.

I am 17 years old and live with my aunt, Catherine Mugoiri, and my two sisters, Eunice who is 14 and Gladys who is 7 years old.  My mother, Cathleen Mugoiri died when I was eight years old as the result of drinking too much local brew.   I have no idea who my father is and even my mother didn’t know.  My aunt is very sick these days and since she was drunk ,as she always is, when she took my little sister Gladys to the hospital, she was chased away by the doctors and nurses.  Gladys has a kidney infection and is very sick. 

I feel very weak as I’m not able to help in anyway, not financially or otherwise. Life has nothing good here and poverty stinks.  Now my little sister is in the hospital and I don’t know how I will raise the money to pay for her bills.  I could give the hospital my services to pay off the bill but I don’t think that is possible.

My aunt is very sick these days and it is believed she took some local brew that contained methanol.  She has almost completely lost her sight.  I’m not totally hopeless though as Family Hope Charity is planning some good things for us.  I want to partake in the Family Hope Charity training program next year and earn my first certificate ever.  Here in Kenya there are things called certificates and I have never been given one in my whole life, not even a birth certificate.  After the training program I hope to go back to school.  I dropped out in 7^th grade several years ago and even though I’m big with a bad voice, I’d be willing even to go back to 5^th grade to catch up again.  I want to go to university one day and earn a medical degree.  I want to come back to Korogocho not as a hustler but as a doctor giving free medical treatment. 

I pray that our coach (Tom O’Hern) can convince his fellow citizens in America to help us in our dreams and take me back to school.

Your contributions to Family Hope Charity can help Stephen and others like him break free of the cycle of poverty, disease and substance abuse. Please give what you can - use the links to contribute through our fiscal sponsors. Thank you.