I need your help. A school of orphans in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya won't eat - and won't have a future - unless somebody helps. I've met them and their leaders. I've been helping them for years. I'm asking for your help now. Below is my story and theirs, and hopefully yours, too.In 2008, in preparation for my first trip to the slum of Huruma outside Nairobi, Kenya, I challenged myself to radically alter my diet for the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter known as Lent. I wanted to get a literal taste of what extreme poverty was like for the kids I would soon visit at Furaha Community Center, the school for orphans that needed help funding a lunch program - the only meal most of these kids eat on school days. So, every day, for 48 days straight, I limited myself to eating just one can of beans a day. That's it. Since I live near Costco, I just bought a case of Garbanzo and a case of Black beans, and I was all set.
The first few weeks went pretty smoothly. I lost about 30 pounds. But the last two weeks or so was shocking. I no longer had much body fat to burn. I was weak. I was dizzy when I stood up very fast. My thinking got cloudy. I talked more slowly. I got my taste - just a nibble, really - of what extreme poverty is like, and it was nauseating.
When I visited Furaha Community Center, a school assembly was there to welcome our team. Roughly 500 orphans packed into a small enclosure in the middle of the slum. They were incredibly well behaved - hardly a peep out of them. How did the teachers foster such good manners? They didn't. The reason the kids were quiet was because they literally didn't have the energy to be anything else. They were too hungry to act like kids.
Hunger made it nearly impossible to learn effectively. Many children would leave the school at lunch break and not return. They didn't get lunch at home, of course, and they were too tired to come back. Their bodies and brains weren't developing at the right pace, and it showed in every way - the color of their eyes, the look and feel of their skin and hair, and their academic scores.
I returned from my trip and shared what I discovered with my congregation in Napa, CA: CrossWalk Community Church. I am proud to tell you that they rose to the occasion. We immediately began funding a school lunch program for those 500 kids!
In 2012 I returned to Furaha. An assembly was held to welcome us - over 500 children in the same enclosure in the middle of the slum. But there was an enormous difference. Eyes were white. Skin was soft and beautiful. Hair was full. And there was NOISE! Lots of joyful sounds of kids laughing and chatting and singing and cheering - as it should be - because they had the calories to be kids. Academic scores rose to some of the highest in all of Kenya because their brains could focus on their studies.
The beans and rice we provide are not simply a way to avoid starvation. Beans and rice provide hope. Hope for health. Hope for an education that sticks. Hope to one day work to transform the slum into a city. It's not just about beans. Its about hope and real transformation.
This Lent, I am asking for help. One of my meals each day is rice and beans similar to what our orphans eat. But if I don't raise money for that daily meal, I don't eat. $10 a day feeds me, and literally feeds them. If I don't eat, it means they might not, either. All proceeds go toward feeding the kids - none of it actually goes to my food budget!
Can you spare $10? Or $20? Or $50? $100? $500? When I visit them this June, I will tell them of your generosity!
Please contribute by clicking here, and selecting Africa/Nairobi along with your other information. It's tax deductible since it flows through my church. Or you can send a check to the address below with a memo to Africa/Nairobi. 100% goes to the feeding program. #Fastforfuraha
Thank you for your support!
CrossWalk Community Church
2590 First St.
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 226-1812
No comments:
Post a Comment