Joyce* never knew life with the love and security of a mom and dad. Both of her parents died of disease by the time she was 3.

The orphan only knew poverty and struggle in the remote Tanzanian village where she lived with her grandmother. From a very young age, she worked hard to help her grandmother buy food.

“There was no one who could pay my school fees,” she says. “I was not thinking about a Bible; all I could think about was how I could carry a 20-liter bucket of local brew to sell.”

Like many poor and orphaned children, Joyce felt abandoned and alone. She lived without hope.

Then, when Joyce was 13 years old, the Bible Society brought Bibles to her village!

“It was my first Bible,” she remembers. “I was so happy to receive a Bible. I always kept it in a plastic bag to keep it safe from dirt. It was precious to me!”

By reading her Bible and engaging with Scripture, Joyce realized that she was not alone. She learned about God’s love and peace.

“Something new was created in my heart,” she explains. “God started feeling real to me.”

Because of the kindness of American Bible Society friends like you, Joyce now knows her Heavenly Father will never leave or abandon her.

“It was exciting . . . very exciting to read God’s Word for the first time. I felt as if God was talking to me,” she says. “The Bible has helped me to change my life and the lives of my friends in the village.”

The compassionate support of our financial partners helps American Bible Society reach into the poorest parts of the world like Tanzania and share the hope of Scripture with people who are struggling under the weight of poverty and abandonment.

*Name changed to protect privacy.