Jenny says you can build up quite a cool relationship through writing letters. “It’s been amazing getting to know Berry through writing. He expresses himself really well, tells me about what he is doing at school and his studies and about the hard times and the joys in his life.”
One of those hard times was when Berry’s father died a year after she started sponsoring Berry. Jenny says it was really heart-wrenching to get that letter. It was at that point Jenny realised there would be an income deficit. She says, “Tearfund was amazing. When I asked, Tearfund find out what they would need to support themselves, they came back with a figure that would set Berry’s mum up with a business selling phone cards.”
Jenny meets Berry for the first time.
The only problem was that when she decided to commit to this, she didn’t have the money. Jenny runs her own business from home making training pants for kids and in the weeks following her decision, her orders miraculously doubled so she could raise the money Berry’s mum needed.
In Berry’s last year at school, he was thinking about his career and decided he wanted to become a nurse. Jenny wanted to help him through his studies because she knew it would be difficult to afford to study away from home. “God put it on my heart to help and Tearfund worked out the detailed costs which included his fees accommodation and food costs.” Again, it has been a case of trusting God for the money to come in but he hasn’t let her down, says Jenny.
“Berry is doing well with studies and enjoying it but he doesn’t find it easy. But recently he was made chief of his class so he can lead services at the Christian nursing school. I am really proud of him.”
Jenny says she would love to meet him but feels she is better to focus on helping to support him. So, at Tearfund, we thought we would give Jenny the chance to do the next best thing by arranging a Zoom call with Berry.
You can watch the video here.
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