NEW KID ON THE BLOCK!

Hello everybody, my name is Caroline Naisarian Lydiah and I am currently working as an intern at Hoops of Hope. Many are asking where I am from and to answer your question, I am from Kenya a great country in Africa and it is amazing how Hoops of Hope has made a difference in our continent and many people now have hope. I come from a home of a 150 brothers and sisters in Kenya! My mother, Mama Zipporah, started an orphanage, Huruma Children’s Home, when I was only nine years old. I was brought up in the orphanage and we went through a lot of challenges growing up but what kept us close was the love we had for each other as well as the word of God which kept us grounded through the hard times.
Later I finished high school and I volunteered at the orphanage as a teacher as I waited to join college. It was a lot of fun because I did not have a clue about teaching and I ended up learning more from my students. Later I went to college and for a time I worked in a media house but my heart was not content. I went back to the orphanage and volunteered to be the administrator. Honestly, I did not have a clue about administration and everything seemed so hard. Mama Zipporah was very patient with me and she made sure I attended a lot of conferences and these were great learning forums because I got to learn from other people’s experiences and I established strategic networks.
After my first year as the administrator, I was invited to the U.S. by Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Chandler, Arizona, to speak about Huruma. It was my first speaking engagement and I was shaking in my boots but God gave me the courage and I was able to talk about the orphanage and raise awareness about issues facing our country. This led to the beginning of a great relationship between the Church and the orphanage. During my brief stay, I visited ASU and I realized that they had a Masters course in Nonprofit Studies, which I applied for immediately. I came back to Kenya and I embarked on finishing up the application process and looking for funds. God is ever faithful because I was accepted and I got a scholarship to help fund my education. Currently, I am in my last semester in college and I am glad to have learnt so much.
God works in mysterious ways because I knew about Hoops of Hope when I was in Africa, through a media outlet. Never would I have thought that I one day I would intern in such an amazing organization. Personally I came to know about the organization through a meeting Mama Zipporah had with Austin’s Dad, Dan and Julie the event coordinator of Hoops of Hope during the month of August. Since then I have been interning with Hoops of Hope. I will be helping out in the media aspect of the organization like tweeting & blogging so that you will be kept up to date with the current events going on at hoops of hope. I am very excited to be part of this amazing organization!!