Kenya Children's Mission Group Info

By Robert Taussig (reprinted with permission)

The Kenya Children Mission Project Lakeside Presbyterian Church PC(USA)

Mission Statement: We assist poor, downtrodden children and their families in Meru, Kenya, children orphaned by HIV/AIDs, some raised by equally poor, single grandparents without housing or tillage; others living on the street, with no hope of a better life. We are partnering with Meru’s agencies and churches to provide these children with food, school fees/uniforms, healthcare and love, showing that real people care about them.

Affiliation: Lakeside Presbyterian Church PC(USA), 201 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132; member of the San Francisco Presbytery and Synod of the Pacific.

Brief history: The Lakeside Kenya Children Mission Project has been in existence since May, 2008 and is a formally approved mission by the Session of Lakeside Presbyterian Church. The Mission Group was founded specifically with the objective of helping poor, hungry, downtrodden children living on the street or in rural settings without the means to grow up as productive members of their society. The first trip to Kenya was made in Jan-February of 2009 to focus on the township of Meru, about 180 kilometers north of Nairobi, where our mission leader, Karl Morthole, had taught in a ‘Harambee’ (self-help) secondary school from late 1969 to 1972 under the auspices of the UPC(USA)’s Commission for Ecumenical Mission and Relations, the Methodist Church in Kenya, and the National Christian Council of Kenya. During this trip, roughly 15 different groups were contacted and met personally in Meru to determine the extent and capability of their support for poor, orphaned children, and ability to partner.

From that survey, 4 groups were selected as the initial partners, with the understanding as our mission grows and diversifies with additional experience, that we might support additional groups and/or increase the level of effort for those that we had already selected. Our support will be in the form of school fees, funding for food, clothing, and medicine, and for hands-on support in Meru during our mission trips to supply direct nursing assistance, repair of homes, facilities, drilling for water and possibly supplying critical equipment such as computers, photovoltaic cell power systems, batteries, satellite dishes, and vehicles, depending on the urgency of the need.

Examples of how gifts to our organization are used: One hundred percent of all gifts to the Lakeside Kenya Mission will accrue to the benefits of the mission children and their families, and to the activity of our partner organizations in Meru supporting these same mission efforts. Gifts made through our church are tax deductible via our 501(c) 3 status. Our partner organizations are: The MCK Runogone Church, Ripples International, and the street children programs supported by the Methodist Church of Kenya at the Catholic Consolata Mission location in the Mjini slum of Meru, and in the Nkabune area of the Diocese of Meru.
The first mission financial contributions from our Lakeside Church congregation were delivered to each of our four Kenyan partner organizations in June, 2009 to provide funds for food, medicine, school uniforms and fees. Our mission team operating expenses are entirely supported by the mission members themselves. All mission members pay for their own trip costs to and from Kenya, and for their travel-living expenses within Kenya.

We are encouraged that college age members of our congregation are interested in this mission. We plan to bring them as young missionaries to Kenya as soon as it is feasible to do so. An effort is being made to involve other churches of the San Francisco Presbytery in our mission, to bring their special talents to aid these poor Kenyan children. Our hope is, God willing, to maintain our personal presence in Kenya for a month or so each year, and possibly more often, to help our world grow closer together in spirit and fact. We invite and will help to develop longer-term support for this mission in Kenya.

A key purpose of our mission is to support these children in the spirit of Christ and to ensure that our contact with them makes this purpose clear. Each of our partner organizations in Meru is devoutly Christian, carrying forth His message in their daily endeavors and devotions. Runogone Church has recently raised funds for another building on the church grounds to accommodate the increase in mission activity related to the poor children and their single parents or grandparents in their area. Ripples International has recently constructed a Chapel and three story hospital on a plot of land sufficient to provide housing, a vegetable farm and some livestock to increase their capability to care for both the health and the spiritual life of their orphaned children.

We encourage prospective donors to the Kenyan Children Mission Project of Lakeside Presbyterian Church to contact our mission group to get the most up-to-date news and information on this Project. We intend to periodically update this mission information and will list the latest entry date here: July 10, 2009.

Contact Information: Please contact us through our Mission Director, Karl Morthole, by email (karl@morthole.com), by telephone at 415-986-0227 or by mail at Lakeside Presbyterian Church PC(USA), 201 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132 if you have any questions or would like to discuss the current status of our mission activities.