Our Stories

Mercy dreams of becoming a doctor. She wants to help people in her community and make life easier for her family. Today, sitting in her Form 3 classroom at Nginyang Girls Secondary School in Baringo, Kenya, that dream feels possible… but a few years ago, it didn’t.

Mercy is the eldest of 7 children. After her father abandoned the family and remarried, her mother was left to raise all of the children alone. To provide for her household, she brewed and sold traditional alcohol, working long hours just to earn enough for food. Mercy helped her mother however she could.

“I used to fetch water and firewood so my mother could brew alcohol and provide for us,” Mercy told our team.

Even with the whole household helping out, financial stability was scarce. Mercy sometimes missed school because she lacked basic necessities. Staying in education felt uncertain, and she worried about what would happen once she finished primary school.

Those fears became real when her uncle decided she would undergo Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and be married off for a dowry after completing primary school. In her community, decisions like these are commonly made by male relatives, and her mother had little-to-no power to stop it.

Her aunt took her in and protected her, giving Mercy safety at a time when she felt she had none.

The moment that changed Mercy’s life path…

In 2023, Mercy and her family joined the So They Can Family Strengthening Project. In the communities where the organisation works, many girls face the risk of leaving school early due to poverty, child marriage, or FGC. The program works with families to change this by supporting education and helping households build more stable incomes. For Mercy, this was life changing.

“I did not have a way to join secondary school,” she says. “So They Can helped me join Form 1 by providing school fees, a uniform and everything I needed.”

At home, her mother received guidance and support to start a small village shop selling sugar and other basic goods, allowing her to stop brewing alcohol. The family also received goats through an income-generating program, which have since multiplied and helped improve their situation at home.

Mercy says the counselling sessions and mentorship camps she attends during school holidays have helped her grow more confident and believe in herself.

Today, she is focused on her studies and thinking about the future with hope instead of fear.

If she could change one thing in her community, she doesn’t hesitate. “I would eradicate FGC and allow all children to go to school.”

Mercy once had to run away to protect her future. Today, she is building it, one school day at a time.

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