Monicah’s Story
How Warren Village Helped Monicah Dream About Her Future
“I’m a very busy mommy,” Monicah says with a smile. But it’s all part of a plan, one she carefully built since arriving at Warren Village in June 2023.
Every day, Monicah’s alarm goes off at 5 a.m. She studies for two hours before her two boys, Ander and Archie, wake up. She picked up this habit from a motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, who talks about “winning your first hours of the day.”
Then it’s time to make breakfast for her boys. By 9 a.m. she drops them off at our Early Learning Center at Gilpin. Then, Monicah starts work at one of two jobs — either as a dental assistant or with a home health agency.
This year, she added school to the mix.
"I realized I'm stronger than I thought."
Monicah is now studying Healthcare Management at Western Governors University. She made that choice specifically because it gives her flexibility to stay present with her boys while still building toward the kind of leadership role she wants. “I want to be a leader who leads people in a way that they feel like they are taken care of,” she says.
Monicah came to Warren Village with her infant son after a marriage fell apart and left her, in her words, at rock bottom. “I needed somewhere I could belong, feel supported, and have a community.” Quickly she says, Warren Village brought a sense of safety she hadn’t had living on her own. “I felt like, oh, this is a good community to be around,” she adds.
That community showed up when Monicah was in the hospital about to give birth to her second son, she says. Her family advocate, Allison, arranged for fellow Warren Village residents to help care for Ander.
Since arriving, Monicah has earned a dental assistant certificate and is now working toward homeownership with Allison’s support. Even as she works toward her degree, she’s eager to re-kindle her entrepreneurial streak. In Kenya, she ran several small businesses, from money-transfer stalls to a barbershop. “I’ve realized that I’m stronger than I thought,” she says with calm confidence. “When I set myself up for something, I don’t set myself up for failure, but for success.”
“I feel like my next chapter is bright,” she says of her and her sons’ future. “If I can see the light from where I stand, I know the light at the end of the tunnel is real. I just have to keep going.”
Asked what she’d want donors to know, Monicah doesn’t hesitate. “They did not necessarily help just that parent,” she says. “They helped the next generation.”
She has a message for her own sons, too, one she hopes they’ll understand when they’re older: “I really did my best, and I kept it together.”