Far too many of the children who come to Mercy Home have been forced to grow up too quickly. One of them is Naya. 

Naya is just 16 years old, but she has been taking on adult responsibilities for quite a while. When her father left the family years ago, her mother was forced to take on extra jobs to care for Naya and her younger siblings. 

Naya knew that her mother was exhausted from working multiple jobs, so she tried to take over the responsibilities of running the house to help her out. She paid bills, made meals, and did all the housework. She also cared for her younger brothers and sisters, making sure they were fed, did their homework, and got to school on time each day.  

At first, Naya did her best to balance her family responsibilities with her schoolwork. She never was able to get much sleep, but somehow found a way to take care of her family and at least do some of her homework each night. But as she noticed money getting tighter and tighter around the home, she decided to get a job to help with expenses. 

Unfortunately, the extra time Naya needed to devote to her job ended up being more than she could handle. She knew there was no way for her to take care of the house and her siblings, work at her job each day, and stay on top of her schoolwork.  

Naya didn’t feel that she could quit her job—her mom had already told her many times about how grateful she was for the extra money Naya was making. She saw no other alternative than to drop out of school so that she could devote herself to helping her family full time. 

Dropping out of school was one of the most difficult things Naya had ever done. While she was never the best student in her class, she liked learning and even hoped to become a nurse someday. But keeping her family together seemed more important. 

But when Naya’s supervisor at work found out that Naya had dropped out of school, she was concerned. She asked Naya about why she had done it and Naya decided to confide in her. She explained that money was tight for her family and that she felt that if she didn’t take care of her siblings and help with the bills, nobody else would. 

Fortunately, Naya’s supervisor knew about Mercy Home from her church. She encouraged Naya to look into all we do here and consider it as an option to help her family and get back into school. At first, Naya was unsure about that. She felt too responsible for her family to consider leaving them. But after a week of contemplating the idea, she brought it up to her mom. 

Naya’s mom agreed to take Naya to our Home for a visit and to find out more information. After meeting with our coworkers, Naya was sure that coming to Mercy Home was the best chance for her to get back on track in school. 

At first, the transition to Mercy Home was hard. Naya felt guilty about leaving her family, and worried about her brothers and sisters. But she also knew that if she wanted to have a successful future, this was the best place she could be. 

With the help of my coworkers, Naya re-enrolled in high school, and worked hard with her tutors each night to catch up on work she missed. With this extra help, Naya earned the grades to have an internship at a hospital to help her achieve her goal to become a nurse after she finishes college. Today, Naya is hopeful about her future—thanks to the loving, prayerful support of Partners in Prayer like you. 

Please note: Because we care deeply about protecting our children’s privacy, the names and certain identifying details in this story have been changed.