Postcard From the Rift Valley

8/7/2019 Postcard From the Rift Valley

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Postcard from the Rift Valley: The American Dream from Abroad – Part 11 __________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright 2010 William Jamieson – All Rights Reserved http://PeoplesVisionUSA.com

Postcard from the Rift Valley, Kenya:

The American Dream from Abroad

Part 11

A Personal Perspective

By Bill Jamieson

http://peoplesvisionusa.com/





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© Copyright 2010 William Jamieson – All Rights Reserved





Postcard from the Rift Valley, Near Nairobi, Kenya: TheAmerican Dream from Abroad

Click here to read more posts about Bill’s journey to Kenya: http:/ / peoplesvisionusa.com/ my-journeys/ second-postcard-from-kenya-2/

I met Saint Mary of the Valley during my visit to Kenya. Her proper name is Mary W.Muiruri and she is the Executive Director of an orphanage located in Kenya’s Rift Valley,about an hour’s drive from Nairobi.

Mary is a woman who every day lives out the words of the prophet Micah: “Do justice,love mercy and walk humbly with God”, and she would certainly disclaim the title I havegiven her.

Mary and her eight siblings were reared in a mud hut and her mom worked hard to keepthem housed, fed, in school and out of trouble.

It worked for Mary. By 1995 she had a degree and a plum job as an accountant at anational university, a job that carried with it good pay, benefits and security.

But then fate (Mary would say God, and I would agree) tapped her on the shoulder. She

was urged by her grandmother Florence to do some volunteer work with a program thathelped women in poverty. Mary said “no”… she was too busy with her work and herfamily.

Florence kept after her and in 1996 Mary and others began an informal self-help groupfor women in Nairobi. That led to a women-run business at an abandoned factory,where the women made construction materials such as roof shingles.





Mary got to know the women and she saw first hand how they struggled to care for theirchildren, many of whom were malnourished and sick. So in 1997 Mary began a programfor the children, teaching them skills and “removing their street manners”.

In 1998 she found the money to send 20 of those children to school. Over time, more

and more of the income from the factory was focused on food, school fees and schoolsupplies for children; the factory’s financial margin began to get thin.

That same year Mary’s grandmother died. On her death bed Florence whispered toMary “Let the factory go… take care of the children.” Mary had a job, a husband andchildren of her own, but she followed her grandmother’s wishes and took a two-yearleave of absence from the university to concentrate on building a program for poor anddisplaced children. She never returned to that plum job with salary, benefits andsecurity.

Mary didn’t think she had the requisite skills to raise money and build a program, so she

enrolled in a UK-sponsored fund-raising institute in Tanzania, and took public speakingand management courses at the Kenya Institute of Management.

One step led to another. She started her program with 20 children and today there are172, with many of them in private boarding schools. All of the children are orphans, or“have come from very traumatic situations,” Mary said. She told me that “the first 20were picked from the street and we offered a one-year rehabilitation program.

Now we have orphans, children who were abandoned on the road and brought to us bythe police, boys and girls who were abused and some who suffered incest. HIV/AIDSmakes orphans every day in Kenya, and every day a new child comes here. Our work is

24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

While shelter, nutrition, love and education are the staples of the center, there are alsospeakers, counselors, and social workers “who can help our children deal withthemselves and their lives. We also train the children to give back. We tell them thatthey have been given a chance and now it is their turn to help others,” Mary said.

The going hasn’t been easy. While Mary has been successful enough in her fundraisingto build dorms for boys and girls; construct a dining area and school rooms, begin athriving garden that produces vegetables to feed the children and to sell in the localmarket; start a fish farming business with a large pool where Tilapia will be ready to

harvest next year… money remains a problem.

The overall annual budget is around $160,000, with $99,000 of that allocated for schooltuition. In addition, international groups help with supplies, building materials,constructing schoolrooms and other special projects like the Tilapia farm.





The program, however, is in arrears in paying staff salaries, and on the day I was therethe electricity had been cut off because half the money for the original hook-up fee wasstill owed. Since cooking is done on a wood-burning stove, the loss of power didn’taffect the preparation of food.

But the children are vibrant, friendly, clean and look healthy. They swarmed to Maryshouting “Hi mom… I love you, mom…” when we walked out of the administrationbuilding into the yard. Her staff members, despite the financial issues, are dedicated totheir work and devoted to the children.

The orphanage has recently started a program aimed at reintegrating children with theirnatural family. “We try to find their natural relatives, and then we work with socialworkers to train the families in how to care for their children. When a child is placedback with their family, we monitor the situation and follow up until we are sure thateverything is working out for the child’s benefit.”

The children come from throughout Kenya, and represent all 42 of Kenya’s tribes. Sixtyof them live at the shelter full time, and the others are in boarding schools and come“home” for holidays and some weekends.

Mary sees all of what she does— from fundraising, to leading her staff and managingthe organization, to caring for the children— “as more of a ministry than work. Mymotivating fuel is the word of God, and I seek always to be a servant of God. Myconstant prayer is ‘God, father of the fatherless, help me care for these your children’. Isee God in each of them… this is not my work, it is God’s work.”

Mary gives all of her heart, mind and strength to this work… to God’s work. This makes

her a saint in my book.

You can learn more about the orphanage at www.shelterchildren.org, or contribute totheir work at http://www.caringforkidsofkenya.org.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Emails: “Dear friends, The Maasai tribe is one of more than 40 inKenya, but the only one that holds to traditional dress and ways. As all of

you know, I just can't resist the children.

The eighth picture down is the home of my host and his wife and their threechildren. It is smoky because they are cooking. Note the bed on the right...

that is the dad's bed. Mom and the three kids sleep on one just opposite his.

Starting with the picture of the four children, the rest are from an orphanageI visited in the village of Ngong in the Rift Valley. The woman in red is"Mom" (Saint Mary of the Valley), and I'll tell her story in a post.





The green out-houses are the boy's bathrooms, and the last picture is theirstatus board. It was both an uplifting and depressing visit...

I am in Cape Town today, leaving for two nights in a game reserve

tomorrow, and then to Lisbon. It is hard to believe that I am 35 days into

this journey, and will turn the corner and head back to the western world inthree days. Peace and love to everyone, Bill”

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Postcard From the Rift Valley