Children in Kenya Need Help
Justus Suchi Obadiah facilitates the work that Reach the Children does in Kenya. Married, the father of two young sons, and a student finishing up his bachelor's program, he is also the bishop of a local church congregation in Nairobi.
Several days into the New Year, riots broke out following the re-election of Mwai Kibaki as Kenya's president. Calls for a re-count of votes fell on deaf ears, and frustration turned to mayhem on the very streets where Reach the Children has worked for years. The news brought us pictures of murders, looting, fires and the pained faces of thousands of refugees as they fled their slum dwellings for the unreliable safety of unknown territories. Electricity was mostly unavailable, and cell phone service intermittent.
On January 11, Suchi wrote that our Reach the Children projects had managed to escape the synchronized bands of machete-wielding terrorists that roamed the streets. Nevertheless, with food and clean water having tripled in purchase price, and since most of the people were day-laborers and could not work, they were without the financial means to care for their families.
We heard from others with whom we had worked in Kenya, and they requested our prayers. There is Pastor Fred Afwai and his wife Alice, who four years ago, felt called of God to organize a church and school in the slum of Kayole. They built a corrugated metal school on a narrow stretch of dirt where 250 students are now enrolled. When we asked about their safety, their concern was for the children and the hunger that gripped their community.
Another is the formidable Mama Lucy, who started Little Bees — a school in Huruma, one of the worst slums in Nairobi. Here she has single-handedly taken in abused children, built latrines, and initiated a clean water supply project. She contacted me from a refugee camp, where she sought refuge from baton-wielding henchmen. She had lost everything and did not know what had happened to her husband or children. “My heart is too much wounded,” she said. As we wept together she declared, “But I praise Jesus and I love him.” She has since found her husband in a hospital, but has still not had any contact with seven of her nine children.
Although Reach the Children is typically dedicated to building self reliance in communities, sometimes drastic circumstances require drastic adaptation. This non-profit organization has now set up a Kenya Emergency Relief Fund. Reach the Children is asking that families give up a meal or two this week so that someone in Kenya can eat. The organization will then ensure that those funds are used to feed orphans and families who ordinarily do all they can to work and provide for themselves, but, because of the current political situation and crisis, have been unable to do so. One hundred percent of all donations will go directly to helping African children and families in crisis.
Those who would like to help feed some hungry Kenyan children and their families are invited to go to www.reachthechildren.org/donate, click on “Where it is Most Needed” and enter “Kenya Emergency Food Fund” in the comment box. Thank you! -Patty Liston