A college student's small monthly donation through Compassion International took a young Kenyan boy from the brink of starvation to a college degree.

Jimmy Wambua, who received help through the child sponsorship program, will share his story at 9 a.m. and 10:30 services this Sunday, Sept. 12, at Sierra Presbyterian Church.

A free lunch will be provided after the second service.

Wambua grew up living in extreme poverty in the slums of Kenya. He never knew his father and at age 4 his life took a sudden turn when his mother became very ill and could not support the family.

Threatened with starvation, he began scavenging for food at the local dump. Longing for someone to rescue him and for an education, he watched as children were escorted to school by their parents and admired them as they carried their lunch boxes.

As a skinny 8-year-old with a protruding belly and jaundiced skin, Wambua's his mother found help for him through a church that had a child development sponsorship program through Compassion International.



Four months later he received the first of many letters from his sponsor, a teenage college student from the U.S.

In 2002 Jimmy joined Compassion's Leadership Development Program, where he has trained in servant leadership and pursued a science degree in agriculture at Egerton University in Kenya.

He is currently studying at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago with plans to go back to Kenya and make a difference in his country.

Sierra Presbyterian Church is located at 175 Ridge Road in Nevada City.