We Didn't Know Beans...

When they think of Africa, maybe people think “safari”.  This is reasonable, since many of the animals we go see in our municipal zoos can be found roaming free in the Dark Continent.  But just 15 miles or so away from Nairobi, Kenya’s National Park – famous for their safari experiences – is the slum of Huruma.  Most of the people who live in the slums cannot afford the $20 entrance fee to their own national park, let alone the much greater fees to hire a driver and a mutate (four wheel drive van) to take you inside.

If you were born in Huruma, your life would be like the majority of Africans.  Their experiences don’t make the tourism brochures.

Imagine being a child, waking up daily with no parent.  A guardian rouses you to get up off the floor, along with as many as eight other orphans in a 10X10 home, half of which is occupied by the guardian’s bed or couch.  The only light flickers from a small oil lamp.  There is no electricity.  Water is scarce – not because it is dry, but because it is expensive.  You put on your torn school uniform (which you love to wear because it communicates to your peers that you get to go to class) and walk to school, avoiding the troughs of open-sewage and abundant garbage which lies randomly, everywhere.  Some of it is burning on the street.  You haven’t had breakfast.  It is Monday morning.  The last meal you ate was Friday – lunch at Furaha Community Center, where you attend school.  You survived on hot tea throughout the weekend.  You get to school and, despite the stench of a dump in the air - you have never smelled air devoid of smoke or garbage – you are thrilled to be present with your peers to learn, to move up in grade, to excel, to eventually rise above your desperate beginnings.

If this were you, how would you feel?  What would your outlook be?  How much hope would you have for a decent future?

You can make a difference for the 550 orphans who attend school at Furaha.  When we started feeding the kids lunch in 2008, we didn’t know beans would have such an impact on their lives and their future.  Since then, the results are incredible:

•  The kids stay in school all day because they get enough calories to sustain them.
•  Their health has drastically improved evidenced in the color of their eyes, the growth of their hair, and the fewer runny noses.
• The sound of Furaha has changed from a quiet place with tired kids to an appropriately, wonderfully noisy place where kids are getting their life back.
• The test scores for Furaha exceed Kenya’s national average – outstanding given their humble surroundings.

The number one variable?  Lunch.

I invite you to become part of the solution to extreme poverty in our world.  We can’t address every need, but we can do our part where we can.  If we each give up just a little of our excess, we provide for their basic needs.

• Give a one time gift of $10 (or more) between now and Easter in support of my #Fastforfuraha - 100% goes to buy their food.  If I don't raise support, I don't eat.
• How about going the next level and helping every month?  Or give $30/month to provide food for Furaha as well as those in need right here in Napa through CrossWalk Community Church.

Give now using CrossWalk's Giving Portal.  Select Africa/Nairobi to give specifically to our orphans in the slums.

Thank you!