From Expelled to Empowered: Senate’s Journey of Purpose

Senate’s earliest memories are not of comfort or security; they are of learning to survive.

Growing up in the village of Mazenod, on the outskirts of Maseru, in the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, Senate was raised by a single mother who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. She never knew her father. Of the six children her mother raised, two had already passed away. Life in their home was quiet: no television, no luxuries—just the daily rhythm of a woman doing everything she could to hold her family together.

The quiet resilience of Senate’s mother shaped who she would become.

“I have always wanted to have her strength,” Senate says softly, speaking of her mother. But watching resilience up close doesn’t make hardship easier to bear.

Lesotho is a country where poverty and unemployment have become a national emergency. The government has officially declared youth unemployment a crisis with 38% of young people out of work, and the number climbing to 41% among young women. For many, education is the only ladder out, and for Senate, even that ladder was pulled away.

Across Lesotho, countless households face the same impossible arithmetic: too many needs, too little income, and school fees that arrive every term with demands they cannot meet. For a single mother holding everything together with both hands, the math eventually stopped working. The fees went unpaid. The warnings came. Then one day, the door to Senate’s classroom was closed to her.

Senate was expelled from high school—not because she lacked the intelligence, not because she lacked the drive, but simply because her family lacked the money.

For many young people in Lesotho, the dream of education is cut short by financial hardship.

With no diploma, an absent father, and no clear path forward, Senate could have given up. Instead, she turned to the only tools she had: books, words, and an unshakeable inner drive. She covered her notebooks with motivational quotes. She plastered her bedroom walls with words that pushed her forward. She read novels, magazines, newspapers, and inspirational books. She listened to motivational audios and videos. She was building something inside herself, determined that no circumstance would define her ceiling.

Senate pursuing her degree at the National University of Lesotho—a dream that almost never happened.

But grace has a way of showing up in the most unexpected faces.

When Senate’s English teacher saw a brilliant young woman being swallowed by circumstance, he refused to look away. He spoke up on her behalf, carrying her story to the Higherlife Foundation, an organization committed to unlocking the potential of young people across Southern Africa. They listened. And then they stepped in.

That single act of advocacy—one teacher who believed in a student the system had given up on—changed the entire trajectory of Senate’s life. With the Foundation’s support, the doors that had been slammed shut began to open again, one by one.

Today, Senate walks proudly across the campus of the National University of Lesotho, where she is a third-year Bachelor of Arts student in Journalism and Media Studies, turning the very passion for words and stories that once filled her bedroom walls into a full academic pursuit.

Some time later, an opportunity to join the Called to Thrive program through OneHope’s Catalyze Club initiative was posted in the Higherlife Foundation alumni group. Senate registered without hesitation because she always engages in things that lead to personal development.

Online, session by session, she moved through topics that went far beyond personal development, discovering her calling and purpose through lessons like Being Who I Am Called to Be and Called by Name. She learned to craft project pitches and build project plans. She heard testimonies from young Christian professionals who had walked roads not unlike her own.

But it was the spiritual foundation running beneath every lesson that quietly began to shift something deep inside her.

The Called to Thrive program gave Senate more than skills. It gave her a renewed sense of divine purpose.

“I felt like I was lost,” Senate admits, “but through the lessons, I was able to remember why I’m on this planet in the first place.”

The Senate who emerged from those sessions was different.

She didn’t wait for perfect conditions. She didn’t wait for all the resources to line up. Armed with a new understanding of purpose—and one practical truth that rewired her entire approach to life: start where you are—Senate launched a small business.

She began running errands for university students, buying groceries and everyday essentials, then delivering them to doorsteps and across campus. Her prices varied based on distance. Simple. Practical. Entirely hers.

And it is working.

Senate delivering for her growing errand-running business—built from nothing but faith and a willingness to start.

“I now know how important it is to start where I am and keep the consistency,” she says with quiet confidence. “My relationship with God is also stronger than before. I now know that He placed us in this world because He has a purpose for our lives and I must fulfill that purpose.”

The girl who once plastered her walls with motivational quotes had found something far more anchoring than motivation. She had found her calling.

And Senate is not keeping it to herself.

Senate and her friends, now partners in purpose, building something together.

Her transformation has rippled outward into the lives of those around her. Her friends now look to her as a model of what is possible.

“My friends say I inspire them,” she shares with a radiant smile. “We have started a lot of projects together, including opening a savings account as friends. Now we are working on starting an NGO that will help the less fortunate like us.”

The young woman who was once among the less fortunate is now building a vehicle to lift others out of that same place. The girl expelled from school is becoming the founder of an organization. The circle is closing not in defeat, but in triumph.

Senate’s story is a testament to what happens when God’s Word and intentional discipleship meet a hungry heart.  Once she was striving simply to survive. Today, she lives with the confidence that she was created by God, called for His purpose, and equipped to help others discover theirs.  

Know someone who needs to be reminded that their story isn’t over? Share Senate’s story and remind them that with God’s Word and one courageous step forward, transformation is always possible.