Walking with the poor - Mission Awareness Trip to Kenya/Tanzania

Struggling African families an inspiring example

CFCA Timau project center and sponsored children

I send you prayerful greetings from Africa. Peter Ndungo, CFCA coordinator, gave us some interesting background on his country and the city of Nairobi, which has an estimated population of 2.2 million:

“Each year there is an increase of migration to the city from rural areas, people in search of gainful employment. They often end up in slums, where they strive to survive under very difficult circumstances…poorly dressed, jammed together and half starved.” 

Aging Home visits

The sponsored aging literally took us by the hand one by  one to visit their humble makeshift “homes” in the Kibagare slum. Most of these are one-room structures made of scraps of anything they can find.

By dividing our mission awareness trip group into five groups, we were able to visit about 20 families. My group had four very special experiences:

Sponsored Aging in Kibagare with Sponsor Louise

1. Sponsored elderly, Monica, said to be more than 100 years old, has raised 13 children, and she still sings nicely.

2. Jacinta is a pleasant smiling sponsored girl with Down Syndrome. Her mother used to live in the forest but hunger forced her to the edge of town. 

3. Mary, 12, and Patrick, 8, are the sponsored children of Lucy, a disabled single mother of 32. She tries to make charcoal by burning wood underground for seven to 10 days. Wood is scarce and far away, and the police persecute those who gather wood and make charcoal. A 100-pound sack of charcoal is worth $5.50.                          

4. Grace is a widowed grandmother whose three daughters have died, each one leaving three orphans. 

Grandmother Grace has taken them in, and is striving to raise nine grandchildren on the produce from a 10 square meter plot.

For this first MAT visit to Tanzania, impressive was the testimony of Father Vincent, who together with Sister Rosario, runs the Village of Hope, some 500 kilometers from Tegeta. He shared some impressive numbers: 2.5 million orphans in Tanzania…of these 800,000 are HIV positive. Estimated 30,000 per year are infected through breast feeding. Father Vincent leads a government-supported effort working on a preventive program.

Family visits

“Mama Michael” has AIDS. Two children are HIV positive and are in the Intensive Day Therapy Program. One of the boys, Eric, is sponsored by MAT participant Jenna, who brought so many gifts that this humble one-room home took on an air of Christmas at 95 degrees.

CFCA East Africa Conference

Among topics covered were a discussion of business skills learned through the livelihood program with mutually guaranteed micro-loans empowering mothers as owners and managers. An example is a widow previously forced to beg who now earns a profit of more than $100 per month.

CFCA Sponsored Child Catherine with little brother – Nanyuki, Kenya

Thank you for the prayers and solidarity of all who accompanied us. Thank you, struggling families of Africa, for your inspiring example. Thank you for the simple nobility of our sponsored families and our co-workers. Now it’s Nairobi…Amsterdam… Minneapolis…Kansas City…and on to Guatemala with my wife to begin the MAT on Saturday, March 10. I ask your prayers.

Bob Hentzen
Nairobi, Kenya

March 8, 2007

Sponsor Cha with Anthony and friend