There is still time! Visit www.ainamoja.com

Consider giving the gift or sponsorship of a needy child in Kenya. A card and instructions of how to make optional connections with the child will be sent to your beneficiary. FMI: http://ping.fm/TCIGT or http://ping.fm/slqNr

Ana Moja will be at Trinity Parish in Lenox, Mass. Saturday and Sunday. Come see the NEW things just in from Kenya and hear about the projects!

The CISTERN is DONE!!! AND It is RAINING!!! LET IT RAIN!! Pictures will follow...

Millicent

Tonight as I sit in my tent, warm and dry, listening to the soft patter of rainfall on the tent roof, Millicent and many like her lie curled up on a cement floor dying with no blanket, pillow – alone and rejected.

Millicent’s husband died of HIV/AIDS related infections.  Millicent is HIV+ also.  She traveled to her husband’s home with her two small children, ages 6 and 3, only to be rejected. She traveled to Nakuru to the slums to eke out some sort of living for herself and her children before the virus took her away from them.

The slums are not an easy place for an HIV+ person. It was not long before opportunistic infections raged. In stepped Benard. This Kenyan has dedicated his life to HIV/AIDS victims. He built a support group, and helps in any way he can by visiting, transporting people to the hospital, bringing food and blankets and other necessities when possible. He found Millicent on her mattress unable to function. The 6-year-old boy was out begging and stealing food for himself, Mom and his younger sister. These two small children were attempting to care for all their Mom’s needs.

Benard , fearing for the Mom and the children. Thieves of any age are beaten and killed. Young girls of any age are raped and abandoned. Millicent was in obvious need of medical care. Millicent is taken to the hospital where they being tests and medication.

Benard located a widow with 4 of her own children in her one room home and convinces her to accept the other two children while the Mother is ill. I hear the story and am moved to help these children with some food.  Two young children in the USA had saved their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in a bank and gave those funds to me before I left to feed children. I also mentioned the possibility of the children joining JWHS.

Fast Forward a week or two. …. The hospital determines that Millicent has no money and will probably not recover.  They discharge her and use her much needed bed for a patient who will recover.  Millicent has nowhere to go.  She cannot pay her bill; the landlord reclaimed her house. She is desperately ill, has no food, no bed, and no blanket. She moves herself to the grass courtyard of the hospital during the day to sit in the sunshine and be warmed. Then at night she slips into the ward to sleep curled up in a corner on the floor waiting to die.  Her body will be taken to the public mortuary to be buried with the other paupers.

Millicent is one of the lucky ones as she has Benard and the support group to bring her milk to drink and soothe her thrush-ridden mouth.

I fought being drawn into the family. I longed to remain at arms distance so I would not have to see, would not have to feel.

But here I am trying to bring you in with me. Trying to help you see and feel this reality of life in Kenya; this reality of poverty and disease.

My heart hurts and rages – can there be nowhere a poor person can find dignity in death?  Where a person can feel love and concern and value and peace as they leave the earth - a bed, a blanket, a sip of milk to cool the ulcerated mouth and coat the empty stomach?

It is easy for me to say this is not my mission, this is not my calling, but whose calling is it?  For less than $200.00 per month, a simple room could be rented, furnished, stocked and staffed for one suffering human being. For less than $1,000 per month a house could be rented, furnished, stocked and staffed to care for up to half dozen of these rejected human beings where they could find a few months of love and peace before they face their eternity.

I am reminded of the story of a man named Lazarus. Lazarus was a beggar in life. He came to a rich man’s gate full of sores and desiring to be fed the crumbs from the rich man’s table but was refused.  The beggar died and was carried by the angels to heaven. The rich man also died and in hell he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham with Lazarus . He cried “Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue.”

Abraham said,” Remember in life you received fine things and Lazarus evil things. Now he is comforted and you are tormented. But besides this, there is a great chasm between us so no one may pass…..”

There are so many needs in this world, real and perceived. So many it is often overwhelming and we harden our hearts so not to feel the brokenness around us. But we are meant to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.

I hope that if you have read this far you will allow your heart to open to see, to feel to break to see Lazarus begging for crumbs from the table; to see mother and fatherless children hoping for life and love; to see Millicent curled up on the cold cement.

May this story first bring a deep sense of gratitude; “But for the Grace of God go you or I”.

Then secondly, may this story stir you TO DO.  Do open your eyes and heart to see the pain around you. Do give thanks for what you have. Do pray to see your role in the lives of the lonely, desperate, despairing, hungry or dying in this world . Do – DO something – the smallest act is never too little.

To read of some of the things Expanding Opportunities does, please visit www.exop.org or find our FACEBOOK page at www.facebook.com/ExpandingOpportunities

The High School boys are HOME! First came John, who has just completed his KSCE. Now begins the long wait for the results. Meanwhile we are job hunting. Then came Kiplangat. It is a full house and all current boys are at home. I wish all of you sponsors could be here to see the family you have created. ASANTE SANA - Thank you.

The Rabondo Community Distance Learning Center completed its first week with 39 visitors!

Back in Kenya

Well I think I am the world's worst blogger...  The last post was my return to the USA in April. Well summer was great! Camp Forest had a wonderful year. Now I have returned to Kenya. The first thing on the agenda was the Distance Learning Center in Rabondo.  I was amazed at the speed the center came together.  There is a long way to go but everything has a beginning.  There are two computers, a small library.  The Center offers computer services such as scanning and printing, access to the internet, short courses both free and fee based and a small lending library.
Next on the agenda is the completion of the Cistern!  This will be so wonderful. Supplies have been delivered and now we await the contractor today!
The boys at JWHS are well and happy.  The property is teeming with food crops! Last year saw two high school graduates and this year there is one more!  He is taking his final exams right now.
In addition to Dini, Expanding Opportunities is now sponsoring two additional girls who ran away to be in school rather than be married.
We are facing challenges with the vehicles but do hope to have all the requirements for inspection completed.

Remember: http://ping.fm/2Tpwb

It is 1:42 am and I have finally arrived in Brooks, Maine. Nice journey with a little time in Amsterdam for a walk and a cup of coffee. The house is standing. Pipes burst so no water and grape arbor on the ground but Home. Back to the work on this side of the ocean.

Flying back to USA today. So sad to leave. So much more to do. Looking forward to Maine but not the cold that I hear is still there.

Some things change. Here I am sitting in Africa in a van waiting and sending this post...Some things never change. -- Luke has been swallowed up by a garage while I sit here and wait.

Distance Learning Center project is now posted on Global Giving, take a look http://ping.fm/66V7F

Benard, one of our first High School grads at the JWHS, has a job!!