A Recipe for Inspiration and Healing

Pour one heaping cup of impact and results into a large bowl. Add a ½ cup of compelling personal stories and sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of stunning photos. Mix with a talented and dynamic Kenyan communications team. Bake with love and serve generously!

Light Up Hope volunteer Jan Cartwright cooks githeri, a Kenyan bean stew, at home in Colorado.

Finding Hope in a Difficult Time

The holidays are behind us, and with them the familiar rhythm of hours spent in the kitchen, chopping, stirring, and baking. Time slows, savory smells linger in the air, and a sugar cookie or slice of pie is always within arm’s reach.

These rituals are comforting and familiar, but this holiday season felt different.

Last February, I lost my job at USAID when the agency was dismantled. Based in Louisville, Colorado, I had been working remotely in communications, supporting partner outreach. I loved the work, and I believed deeply in the impact USAID and its partners were making around the world on behalf of the American people. It was more than my job: it was my calling. While I mourned my own layoff, I also acutely felt the weight of the devastating losses that rippled globally from the shutdown.

When my professional life came to an abrupt halt, my calendar suddenly opened up. I found myself searching for purpose and positivity. In the spring of 2025, I reached out to Light Up Hope to ask if they might need a volunteer.

Cooking Up a Content Series

Discovering Light Up Hope felt both natural and serendipitous. The organization’s headquarters is within biking distance of my home, yet its work reaches across the globe to Kenya. This connection felt even more meaningful because I had spent a month in Kenya in 2023 supporting a USAID project in Kisumu, and I had fallen in love with the country.

I loved it so much, in fact, that I returned home with several bags of ugali flour tucked into my suitcase, much to the amusement of the airport security staff in Nairobi who searched my bags!

Soon, I began meeting weekly with Kelsey Little, Light Up Hope’s Director of Development, who also lives near me in Louisville, and with Gracious Aganda and Stephen Yohana, Communications Assistants based in Kenya. Together, we brainstormed story ideas and mapped out a content plan. We studied storytelling best practices, workshopped off-the-wall concepts, and edited each other’s drafts.

They say that if the ingredients are high quality, you can’t really fail to cook something delicious. Although I had expertise to share, it quickly became clear that Light Up Hope’s team already had all the ingredients they needed: strong writing skills, amazing photography and videography talent, a keen instinct for what audiences want to read, and, most importantly, incredible programmatic impact to share.

I’m deeply proud to have played a small role in shaping the recent stories published on the Light Up Hope website. Through this collaboration, I feel like I have personally traversed washed-out roads with John, sat in a classroom with Rebecca, toured the chicken coops kept by Cheril’s mom, seen a Kajiado community overcome drought, and learned about mental health with Maasai parents.

A visit to Lake Naivasha in February 2023.

From Colorado to Kenya, and Back

Collaborating with Kelsey, Gracious, and Stephen sustained me during a challenging chapter of my life. Our work together gave me purpose and connection when I needed it most.

Wanting to share a piece of that connection with my own family, I asked Gracious and Stephen if they would send me a Kenyan recipe I could make at home.

As my family gathered around a meal of githeri and chapati, I realized it wasn’t just my belly that was full—it was my heart. Volunteering my time became the tether I needed, reconnecting me to the work I loved. And in helping to tell Light Up Hope’s inspiring stories of grit, determination, and resilience, I found that hope had been lit up in me too.

Githeri and chapati in Louisville, Colorado.

Get Involved!

Add a dash of inspiration to your life by volunteering with Light Up Hope. Your skills are needed, and you just might discover your own recipe for impact. Reach out to info@lightuphope.org.