Scrooge, a Christmas Carol, a podcast presentation by Hope Media Group and Compassion International,

releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

As we celebrate the completion of our all-new version of Charles Dickens, a Christmas Carol,

we wanted to share the ways in which the central themes of that story affect our lives today.

And this is the first of two special bonus episodes from Hope Media Group and Compassion International.

Hey, I'm Wally from The Wally Show on Wayfm.

And a Christmas Carol, like many of

the Dickens' novels, is a story fraught with poverty, destitution, pain, and redemption. But

another characteristic of a Dickens story is that the author most often explored these

dark times through the lens of children who navigated their way through these worlds. And

it was children who managed to find hope, love, and faith in otherwise desperate situations.

And I have no doubt that if he had been writing today, 150 years later,

Charles Dickens might tell the story of Jay Biro.

Now, Jay grew up in the slums of Mathari in Kenya, struggling to survive,

being thrown in jail at nine years old. But Jay wouldn't end up having the happiest ending of any character in a Dickens novel. And thanks to our friends at Compassion International, he's here today with us to share his story. Where did your story start? Like, let's go all the way back to that. Thank you so much. My story began back in Mazzare, in Arabic Kenya,

and that's where I was born. And it's one of the biggest slums, one of those places where we talk

of hopelessness, but that's one of the places there's a lot of hopelessness. Just beginning by

looking at it, the expectations, and everything about it.

In my community, one of the hopeless things that happened is that the kids born in my community,

automatically as a boy, you'd be expected to be a thief and a girl to be a prostitute.

And when you talk about the ghost, can you imagine sleeping in a house that when it rains, you actually have to move your beddings

because most likely the spot that you're sleeping is going to, the water is going to come through.

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