Countdown to Kenya - Day Two

So yesterday, I stood in the harbor with my flashlight in one hand, my crown on my head, and a giant marble tablet in the other hand and I cried out, "Give me your tired, poor, huddled old coins yearning to breath free!" I collected all my old used coins, counted them all up, and am now $96 closer to Kenya. $96 down, $3504 to go! Of course, it took me like four years to save up those coins, so... I'm going to have to come up with other methods of raising money.

Now Dave Lamb (aka Pastor Dave... aka Ranger Rick... aka That John Denver Look-Alike ;) had an interesting question yesterday and I thought I'd address it. You all know why I'M going to Kenya, but you probably don't have a clue why WE'RE going to Kenya. So let me back track...

Really, this whole thing begins and ends with Karl Morthole. Back in the day he was a PeaceCorp volunteer in Meru, Kenya, working with a school as a teacher. Though he went on with his life after he left Kenya, Kenya never really left him.

Jump forward a number of years and Karl started going back to Kenya for visits and reunions. While there, he discovered that his former school needed some assistance, so he brought the issue to Lakeside and we generously donated some money for school uniforms and other projects. The Youth Group at the time even sponsored an AIDS Education program out of Meru.

But Karl started thinking there was more that he could do, so he decided to go back and help Kenyan farmers by setting up a coffee exchange here in the United States. Unfortunately, that's a rather tough market to crack.

All of this was going on sort of at his behest and completely on his own. Lakeside supported Karl and his efforts, but they were his efforts.

On a completely different tack, a group of Lakesider's were getting together to study missional programs and the deepening of their commitment to Christ. Out of this group, which included Karl, a number of them got together and decided that they wanted to form a small group Mission Study Group, to figure out if there was a better way of doing mission at Lakeside. After a relatively short debate, they realized that there was one person amongst them that already had a passionate mission going - so they formed the Kenya Mission Group.

I joined the group earlier this year and the very first thing that occurred after I joined was a short fact finding trip by two of the group members. They went to Kenya to find a mission program that Lakeside could partner with. Kenyan people helping Kenyan people with Lakeside helping them. We didn't want to be in charge, we only wanted to assist. Well, the trip was so successful that we had a real hard time narrowing the assistance down to four groups and six different missions.

We are currently supporting four different missions in Kenya. Two of the groups are children's feeding programs located near slum neighborhoods in Meru (and just outside Meru). These programs feed up to 120 kids a day and try to get them school uniforms and into schools. (Kenya has free education for grade school, but not free uniforms). These are the programs that I'll be working with mostly. Another of the programs is the Runogone Church in Meru that has taken a pledge to help up to 200 families in their community that are either in poverty or right on the edge. They are doing much the same as the other groups, but on a much larger scale. And the final program is Ripples International - a Kenyan program with funding from all over that has several different missions. The ones that we are working with are their programs dealing with AIDS Testing and Consulting, Abandoned Infant Care, and Help for Young Battered Women (teens and younger that have often been sexually assaulted).

We are raising funds and awareness for these groups and in less than six months, we will send a team of people to Meru to physically help in any way that is possible - including drilling a couple of wells to help them deal with crop sustainability.

This is an ongoing effort - not one that ends in six months and two weeks - when I return from Kenya. We have no illusion about our ability to completely end suffering, but we are doing what we can to help and God willing that help will go far.

I hope that answers all of your questions.