Late summer and early autumn is a very busy time for our Kenya Now team. From manning info tables at festivals to putting on fundraisers and concerts, it has been quite the month! Fortunately, we are settling back down to our basal rate of activity. First, I would like to say thank you to the 16 supporters who have filled out our communications survey. I am going to keep it open over the weekend and would appreciate more input before I compile the submissions and present it to our board of directors next week. Fill it out HERE. It only takes around 30 seconds! Happenings at the Rebirth Academy & Children's Home There is never a dull moment at the orphanage. The kids are well cared for and happy. They always look forward to our Virtual Enrichment Classes, where they get to spend 45 minutes interacting with our volunteers as we read them books and teach on fun enrichment topics. This past Tuesday, I explored meat eating plants with them and showed them some epic BBC videos of Venus Flytraps coming to life to take a life... poor fly! There are no computers or established internet at the school. We teach over an iPad that sits at the front of the classroom filled with 160 eager students. It is always a blast. You can join in on a session if you want to see what it is like. Email me to join the next class: dan@kenyanow.org We have a new resident at the orphanage. Her name is Faith. She is a 14 year old girl who was dropped off by her mother, who was desperately pleading for us to take her child. The mother made little sense through her hysteria, so we allowed the girl to stay overnight as a safe haven until we could investigate further and determine the best action to take. That was 3 weeks ago, and the mother is nowhere to be found. We have learned that the father had died and the stepfather was terribly abusive, though a lot remains a mystery. The local authorities are involved, and we have formally accepted her at the orphanage. She is currently attending our Rebirth primary school until we can enroll her into an outside secondary school (we only have a primary school and outsource our students to nearby secondary schools). She is in desperate need of a sponsor. The monthly gift does not only help cover her care at the orphanage, but it also pays for school fees, uniforms, and more. Please consider sponsoring her and joining the family of supporters that make our education and children's home program possible. Find her profile HERE. Healthy Child Program Update This leads me to my next update: our school medical clinic initiative. Faith is a very tall girl, and she is very malnourished and likely has never seen a doctor before. That is where our Healthy Child Program comes in. As of 6 months ago, we have a school nurse who has been implementing health initiatives and wellness checks for all of our students in the program. Her name is Bethany (you rock, Bethany!). With her help, we have been able to monitor, treat, and prevent health issues on the compound. This is a major milestone. Bethany is assessing, monitoring, and providing the necessary care for Faith. With our Healthy Child Program combined with our Nutrition Program, I am confident that Faith will thrive and quickly adapt to this new environment. While we have a health program, we do not actually have a stationary clinic. That is where you come in. Help us finish our clinic fundraiser so we can build an onsite clinic, stock it with supplies and medications, and pay our current unpaid nurse. That is right, the only compensation that Bethany receives right now is a small amount to cover rent. We need to compensate her just as we do with the teachers. I am confident we will complete this fundraiser soon, as we are already 50% of the way there. We are going to start building the clinic even though we have not raised all the funding yet. It is that important. If you want to make an impact, this is that opportunity. Find the clinic fundraiser HERE. Spiritual Awakening Project Update I am assuming, and hopeful, that you already know this: Kenya Now is a Christian organization. We do a lot of humanitarian aid, but as a whole, we do it as a calling and with the hope of shining the love of Jesus Christ to those we serve, without prejudice. We are so thankful to our supporters who may not view the world through our same eyes, but decide to partner with us anyway. We are happy to have a diverse group of supporters! However, the Spiritual Awakening Project is special to my wife Kara and I. This is where we support our ministry partner, AMJM, in their church planting and Gospel initiatives. Not a lot of people give toward this project, and I would like to see more traction here. Every dollar donated to this project goes straight to AMJM and their ministry efforts, not to our other programs. If you have been looking for a way to give solely to our Christian mission, this is your stop. Check it out and get involved HERE. Bishop Patroba just returned from visiting one of his churches in Uganda. He has over 30 churches spanning across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of which receive no regular financial support. What they do receive is leadership networking, along with supplies such as Bibles whenever they are gifted. We had a donor give toward this trip, and the funds were used to gift sacks of maize to some of the women, many of whom are widows. These moments never fade away and are always powerful. Here is another example of where your gift might go. A few weeks back, Bishop traveled up to the extremely remote desert region of northern Kenya near the border of South Sudan. He was visiting a church that has been asking to join the AMJM network of churches. While there, he was given a tour of the village named Kakuma. "Kakuma" literally means "nowhere" in the local Turkana language, which is fitting for such an isolated area. The town originally grew out of a makeshift refugee camp established in 1992 to shelter the thousands of displaced children known as the "Lost Boys of Sudan" fleeing civil war. Over the decades, that camp expanded to become one of the largest refugee camps in all of Africa. During his visit, Bishop met a woman living with her children in a small hut in Kakuma. Thanks to a donor who gifted money for this trip, Bishop was able to use those funds to buy metal sheets to help her secure her walls. Find a photo of the hut in Kakuma and the Ugandan women with their maize below! Bishop could use your help with his ministry. We will make sure he gets your gift through this project page. As a community of believers, anything is possible!
So much happened this week that it honestly feels impossible to fit it into one short update... but here we go. Starting with the most serious situation: Bishop was called to the home of a widow after concerns were raised that her failing health was putting her two young orphaned grandchildren at risk (Joel and Benjamin). When he arrived, the conditions were even worse than expected. The mud hut was collapsing, the three of them were sleeping on a rug soaked with urine and feces, and all of them had severe chigger infestations from sleeping on the dirt floor and walking barefoot. For those unfamiliar, chiggers are tiny fleas from contaminated soil that burrow larvae into the skin, especially the feet and fingers. It is painful, dangerous, and heartbreaking to see. Bishop immediately went into action. We had two leftover mattresses, blankets, and pillows ready to give, along with food and urgent medical attention. But the response did not stop there... we also funded an entirely new small home for them. Shoutout to the professional builders that did the work pro bono! The existing structure was declared completely uninhabitable, and the rugs were burned that same day. Bishop and his team are still carefully assessing what long-term support will be best for the widow and the children, and I will absolutely keep you updated as we learn more. How you can help:We had to reallocate funding from another project to cover this $700 emergency grant, so if you would like to help us replenish that, you can donate below. On another major concern (and also praise), our children at the orphanage began falling sick one after another this past week. Our Healthy Child Fund was running low, and naturally, questions were piling up. Thankfully, Bethany (Bishop’s daughter and a trained nurse) stepped in quickly. She went to the school, examined the children, and discovered that most had contracted the flu. She also found that a worker had accidentally added too much chlorine to the drinking water tank, which likely contributed to some of the symptoms. Bethany has committed to staying at the school this week to monitor and treat the children. This has pushed forward an initiative that had only been in the early planning stages, but now has suddenly become urgent: hiring a full-time school nurse to care not only for our orphanage children, but for the entire school community. That is exactly why our joint medical clinic fundraiser (in partnership with Sigma Beta Theta at-Large Chapter in Western Massachusetts and American Christian School in New Jersey) matters so much right now. This fundraiser is listed on our Fundraiser page. We do not only need to build a clinic, we need to hire the staff to make it function well. This week made the need impossible to ignore. Now for a major praise report: We have been praying for funding to complete our water runoff management project and cover the remaining cost of expanding our wood stove... and an anonymous supporter gave the exact amount needed in cash. Not close. Not partial. The exact amount. Those projects are now moving forward, and I will have more to report soon. One last thing: the shoe fundraiser is officially in motion. Feet have been measured, orders are being placed, and over 160 children will soon receive brand new, high-quality leather school shoes. God is good. God is moving. And at this pace, we may all need stronger running shoes ourselves. 🙌
