This blog is a part of an ongoing series on Forward Edge’s Pearl Partners. Check out our highlights on Cuba and Haiti and enjoy this interview with Jane Wathagana.
20 years ago, Jane Wathagana was a successful businesswoman in Kenya, the Director of Animal World Safaris and Elangata Luxury Camps, when she met an American tourist named Dave Watts, who had come to see a safari in the Maasai Mara. After an amazing safari spent conversing together, Dave and his wife asked Jane if there were any opportunities to serve while they were abroad in Africa; so she introduced them to her mother, affectionately known in their community as “Mama Beth” who helped provide food for about 60 underprivileged children in a Kenyan town called Kijabe. Dave and Mama Beth connected instantly, and Jane was thrilled to see her mother’s humanitarian work being recognized… but she had no idea how this moment would change the trajectory of her own life forever.
Upon returning to the U.S., Dave connected his new Kenyan friends to Forward Edge, and over the course of that next year, the ministry of Mama Beth Children’s Program became Forward Edge Pearl Partners. Originally, Jane had been apprehensive to doing the type of work her mother labored for so tirelessly; but God began to work on Jane’s heart. She started volunteering on the weekends to support her mother’s ministry and help break the cycle of poverty she grew up experiencing.
“Every time I saw a needy child, it was like I saw a little me. I wanted to help more so that this generation of children’s lives would be better” she shared. But for Jane, she felt like this ministry wasn’t her calling – it was her mother’s. “To me, my volunteer work had nothing to do with God’s calling. I was doing it to help my mother, so that her legacy could continue… or so I thought. In reality, it had everything to do with me, and it changed me slowly but surely. By God’s grace I was becoming exactly like my loving mother.”
In 2015, Jane visited the U.S. for the first time, to attend a Forward Edge event. “I was so excited because it was my first time in the U.S. and I was ready to meet everyone and tell them about our work in Kenya; but I didn’t know what God had in store for me. I didn’t know that it was time for my turning point.” The speaker at the event spoke on being “fully available to God and who he sends you to.” Jane felt, in that moment, that God was speaking loudly and clearly to her.
“When I got to my room that night, I barely slept. All I wanted was to talk to God, have a conversation with him and know if He was the one who calling me into ministry, or if I was just doing it for my mother. I asked God so many questions and he answered me directly. That night felt like I was Jacob in Genesis 32, wrestling with God. I asked Him:
‘Why would you choose me to do this important work when I have older brothers and sisters who could have joined my mom and done it better than me?’ And God answered me from 1 Samuel 16. ‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ And when Samuel comes to the youngest sibling, David, God says ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’ It was as if God was saying the very same words to me.
Then I asked him ‘Lord, how will I do this? I love these children and I don’t want to fail. How will I get the resources to do what I feel called to do?’ And he answered me from Isaiah 45:2-3: ‘I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God who summons you by name.’
That next morning, I woke up knowing that It was God who called me into the ministry, to lead Mama Beth Children’s Program. It was not just for my mother – it was my call as well. Since then, I have never looked back and I have seen God do what he promised me that night, and I know that He is able to do so exceedingly.”
Since then, Jane has led Mama Beth Children’s Program courageously and faithfully, with a vision to serve and share the love of Jesus with as many children as possible. Two decades after her mother began serving 60 children in Kijabe, the program now has feeding programs at four different schools, providing meals for 1,082 children, five days a week. Jane’s testimony is an incredible example of faithfulness to God, and how He can work in us and through us, when we say yes to his calling.
In Matthew 13, Jesus is sitting in his friend’s home, after a long day of teaching parables to the crowds. His disciples ask him about the Kingdom of Heaven, and he shares another story with them, to help them understand: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for
In the extremely poor village of Kijabe, Kenya, there lives a crippled widow named Mary. After her husband died of AIDS a few years ago, she struggled to find food. While she suffers from HIV, too, Mary’s greatest challenge is a nerve problem in her legs. She has to use crutches
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sheri Stanley, our Director of Operations & Mobilization, to hear her Forward Edge Story. While what we spoke about was only a fraction of God’s incredible works in her life, these significant moments were an inspiration to me, and I hope they
2021 has been an incredible year. At Forward Edge, our hearts swell with gratitude for all God has done. His awesome faithfulness through another difficult year has been such a blessing to witness. Children around the world are discovering their true worth and purpose and growing in intimacy with Jesus,
5 yrs. old
Entered the Program: August 2024
Lucky lives with his parents and younger brother in a borrowed three-room wood house with a cemented floor. The home has access to electricity for light and they fetch water from a well that they boil to drink. They have an outdoor kitchen and use firewood for cooking. They do not have a bathing facility but use an outdoor pit latrine.
Lucky and his little brother are being raised in a very humble situation. His father is a casual laborer who has to search for odd jobs, and is the sole provider for the family. Lucky’s mother stays home to care for the children. The household income is meager and they are unable to afford some of the basic needs of their children.
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