The Food Crisis

Sept. 11, 2009 is fast approaching. That is the day the team leaves for Kenya. I have never been nervous about travelling and working in Kenya before but I am this trip.
There is a severe drought in Kenya and there is a shortage of food. Consequently the cost of food has almost tripled and the average Kenyan can't afford to buy Maize flour, which is the staple in that country. People are dying every day and especially children. That is why I am nervous.

We have so much in Canada. We often eat dinner and then scrape our left overs into the garbage. The children in Kenya could live on our left overs. How will I feel when I am holding a child who is dying of starvation? I don't know but I am nervous.

We will be doing a food distribution in the area where we have done them for the past three years. Areas where there is abject poverty. With the cost of corn and beans at an all time high we can't even afford to purchase what we have in the past and that means we will be feeding a lot less people. It is just a drop in a huge bucket but we can only do what we can do!!

Please remember these children each day and if you have a strong faith pray for rain.

Getting Ready

As I prepare to go back to Kenya I am excited, but I also realize that with 4 new team members it will be very life changing for them. They will interface with many orphans, students, AIDS widows, grandmothers raising children, street kids, Masaai women and teachers working with few supplies. They will work at health clinics and see children ill from worms, starvation, and stomach ailments - things that are just not common in our society where we have plenty.
They will learns the importance of water and how wasteful we are in our society and they will come to understand how valuable a commodity that food is in Kenya where people are now dying of starvation because of the drought.

The number one killer in North America is overeating and the complications it brings. The number one killer in Africa is starvation due to the lack of food and without food the susceptibility to diseases.

We will do what we can while we are there and hopefully be ambassadors for Canada and for peace.

New logo

Hope2kenya has a new logo. We have always been known as Team Tumaini (which means hope in Swahili). We will still continue to be that team when we travel but our overall logo has now been added. It was designed by Sean Hamilton of Toronto and really says it all. Our goal is to bring hope to the children of Kenya by providing education, clean water, food and safe places to stay. We also try to provide widows with skills so they can earn money to look after their children.

The blue in the logo represents water and the yellow represents the hope that we try to provide. The child in the middle with upraised arms says it all.

Thanks Sean for the wonderful work.

New Logo

Excitement is beginning

We are now at our six week mark and the team is getting excited. Next Friday (Augsut 7th, 2009) we will be having our last fundraiser in this area. Caren Gagne, a team member, owns a restaurant and she is hosting a pot luck dinner and music jam. There will be both a silent and live auction as well as a 50/50 draw. If you are in the area of the La Tea Da Tearoom in Rutherglen drop in and say hi to everyone and help support the cause,

Sharon Kutchaw and Mary Crowder are two team members from Sudbury. They have worked very hard at raising funds for the cause. They have done silent auctions at their local golf course, held a BBQ, done a Toonie sale at a Mall in Sudbury and have sold our HOPE necklaces. They are fantastic and hard workers and have helped add funds for the projects we will do in Kenya.

All the funds that we raise go directly towards projects in Kenya. Each team member pays all their own expenses for the trip. We take our funds and purchase stuff for the projects while we are there and then we know that the money is being used directly to help the children and widows that we work with.

Thanks to everyone who has donated funds to help with all our endeavours.

Fundraiser held by Ambulance Service

Today was a great day. The North Bay Central Ambulance and Communication Centre organized a BBQ to raise funds for our team. The rain held off and they had hot dogs and drinks. The group, under the direction of Chris Reed and Jennifer Durham, have also have been selling tickets on several items over the past few weeks and I drew the tickets of the lucky winners.



They presented us with over $500.00. I was there for the BBQ and it was a heart warming experience to see these hard working people raise these funds. Lori Butterfield, who is on this years team, is a paramedic with this group. These folks work in a stressful job and still find time to give back.

Thanks to everyone at CACC and to all those who purchased tickets and hot dogs.

Only seven weeks left

In seven weeks our team will be in Kitale, Kenya and our work will begin. Our six team members are getting excited and we are anxiously awaiting to see whether we have been allowed to take 2 medical packs with us. These packs are bought through a group in Montreal that charges $575.00 for approximately $5000.00 worth of medical supplies. We have two nurses and a para medic on our team and we are hoping to hold 3 health clinics while we are there. These clinics will be in the rural aread as well as one in Kibera. Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa and we will just be in one small area.

I recently met with several high school students and their parents to discuss our trip to Kenya in July of 2010. This will be the first time that I am taking students and it will be a very exciting trip. The students who are hoping to come are wonderful young people who I know will make a wonderful contribution while we are there.

We have a couple more fundraisers before we leave and I am hoping that we raise enough money to get the orphanage for AIDS babies off the ground. If we do raise the funds, the orphanage will happen while we are over on this trip. What a wonderful thing that will be!!

Seven weeks and counting.

F.J. McElligott's Taste of Africa Dinner

Two weeks ago F.J. McElligott High School had a dinner at a local restaurant in Mattawa where the school is located. The students helped out in the kitchen and with the serving. They also had a silent auction with items from Kenya. This small high school has done a wonderful job of fundraising for our team over the past few years. They are led by a young vibrant teacher named Chris Davis and she motivated the students to help out through one class each year. This year it was a grade 10 class and they have raised almost $2000.00 between a couple of small fundraisers and their big dinner. In the past two years they have raised almost $5000.00 which has helped build an elementary school in Kolongolo Village in Kenya. Asante Sana, (thank you in Swahili) to all of you.

Some of the students who helped at the dinner are pictured above with Sandy.

Luncheon and Fashion Show

What a great fundraiser we had on Wednesday June 24th. The Ram's Head, a local restaurant, had a luncheon and we added a fashion show and the models were team members who had been to Kenya during the past few years. It was a great luncheon by Roger and the fashions by Joyce's linerie and women's shoppe were lovely. We had many gifts to purchase tickets on and a wonderful selection of door prizes donated by Tracey Vigars, Joyce's lingerie and Womens wear and the Ram's Head Restaurant. I think everyone had a wonderful time and we raised a nice amount for our Kenya work.

Jo-anne Lumsden (in pink) commentated the show and Noreen Brewer in black pants and white top, was a model.

Fashion Show and Luncheon

This Wednesday (June 24th) we are having our second annual luncheon and fashion show. It is held in Callander, Ont., in a lovely restaurant called the Ram's Head. It is owned by Roger and Diane Arsenault. Roger is the chef and they have a wonderful menu. Roger and Diane do a special menu for the luncheon and it will be delicious. We sold all 32 tickets out within a week of putting them up for sale.

Joyce's lingerie and ladies clothing store from North Bay do the fashions for the show. The models are people who have gone to Kenya with me on a team, or whose husbands have made the journey.

We also have a small sale of Kenyan items and a draw on 15 different baskets. It is a fun time and a wonderful way to tell people of our programs and what we are doing in Kenya. I will keep everyone posted on the success of the event.

We now have our plane tickets for our trip in September and time is getting closer to our departure and it seems we still have so much to do before our trip. My friend Daniel is keeping me posted on all the projects that we help with and excitement is beginning to build in team members.

Speaking in New Liskeard

Today was a great day. I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of women at a United Church in New Liskeard, a town north of my city. They were wonderful listeners and asked questions after my talk. I am always amazed and pleased at how interested people are in what our Hope2Kenya group is doing. That is what encourages me to keep making people aware of the plight of the Kenyan children and widows.

Thanks to all the women in New Liskeard who came out and listened, participated and purchased products made by the people of Kenya.

Running for Kenyan Kids

On May 24th I ran a marathon in Ottawa to raise funds to build an orphanage for children with AIDS. The marathon was not an easy one but I managed to finish. I raised $3100.00 which will get the orphanage up and running in the Kitale area of Kenya. I started running when I was older and ran my first marathon at 60. I try to run one each year and this was my fifth marathon. Raising the money was wonderful, but I met a wonderful young woman on that run named Marg from Belleville, Ont. This was her first marthon and she joined me at about kilometer 30. I was having a tough time at that moment and she appeared by my side asking if she could walk with me (I was walking at this time). Before she came along I was thinking about quitting, which is really not in my vocabulary. Marg and I finished the race together and meeting her was a bonus. She was a true inspiration.

I told her all about the work I do in Kenya and she was very inspired by my story. She is much younger than I am and is a nurse. Going to Kenya is on her list of things to do when she is retired. The orphanage will become a reality and I have also made a new friend. Thanks Marg for you inspiration and kindness.

Milkbag bedmats for Kenyan kids

Sandra Brownlee has been collecting plastic milk bags which can be woven into bedmats for Kenyan children. She has already collected about 1000 and has friends (who have learned to crochet the bedmats at workshops) working to provide the finished product.
More information and photos are contained in the "Kids Helping Kids" page on the Hope2Kenya website.