It wasn't long ago that Wendy, 14 years old, and her five brothers and sisters were going without food for days at a time. Since losing Wendy's parents, her elderly grandparents struggled to care for the children near rural Susu, Zambia. When things were at their worst, Wendy didn't have the energy to play with her friends, let alone make the 3 mile trek to school each morning.
Everything changed when Wendy started receiving weekly visits from a concerned neighbor. Through Grace Church in Racine, Wisconsin, Hands at Work has been working in Susu since 2004 to empower the community to care for children like Wendy--the poorest of the poor. Hands at Work operates through local people, like Wendy's concerned neighbor, who identified her as incredibly vulnerable and was able to connect Wendy to a program providing a meal every day at school. Now Wendy has the energy to go to school again, and to play with her friends, too. Wendy's favorite subject in school is called Creative and Technical Studies, and she dreams of becoming a teacher some day.