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Pearl Partner Spotlight: Kenya

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. 

Picture of Desi McAnally

Desi McAnally

Desi has a passion for people and the gospel. She has served in Nicaragua, Mexico, Kenya, and Kosova, and is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Forward Edge.
Bible Story

Whose Bible?

It started with a simple nudge—a last-minute feeling that I was forgetting something important. Rushing through the airport, I couldn’t shake the urge to buy a Bible. I didn’t know why, or who it was for, but I trusted the feeling. A week later, in a small village in Ghana, that Bible found its way into the hands of Talata, a girl who had never heard of Jesus. This is the story of how God’s quiet whispers and a small act of obedience became part of something much bigger than we could have imagined.

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child sponsorship

Berenice’s Letter

A special message from one of our sponsored children in Oaxaca, Mexico: Receive an affectionate greeting all of you. I would like to tell you a little bit about my life in Trigo y Miel Program. My name is Berenice Santiago Lugo. I have 5 siblings. Audre, Uriel, Joselyn, Dulce

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cuba

Children Step Up for Families

Tough Times It never ceases to amaze me the accomplishments children can achieve, but more importantly and impressively, their hearts behind it. The pandemic has been difficult for everyone, but one of the largest hurdles the families in our programs have had to face is watching the prices for their

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child sponsorship

Divine Encounters in Oaxaca: Reflections from a Mission Trip

Bold Obedience In life, some moments stand out as divine interventions, where God’s hand is unmistakably at work. Mission trips are often such moments, where lives intersect with purpose, and hearts are transformed in ways beyond measure. Jilese’s recent journey to Oaxaca, Mexico, serves as a testament to this truth.

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Transform a Child's Life Through Sponsorship

Gyebaleki (hello), my name is Gift

  • location

    Uganda

  • 20 yrs. old

    08-30-2005

Entered the program: January 2019

Gift lives with her mother in a three-bedroom house which her mother constructed after being evicted from the house they were renting for failure to pay. Gift’s father passed away when she was young, and they were left with nothing. Her mother does menial labor in other people’s gardens and keeps her own small garden to earn an income.

Sponsorship Level What's this?

Three $38 sponsorships are needed to cover the complete holistic care of one child. Cover one, two, or three sponsorships.