A Successful Christmas Campaign!

We are often way off the road to
make a delivery!

Marjorie organizing and
assembling hampers

A very full Toyota!

It has been amazing few months here in Kenya.  We have been working hard, with the help of some visitors from Canada, (thanks Brandt, Shawna, Marjorie and Nicole) to keep up with the generous outpouring from many of you back in Canada towards the "Hampers Of Hope" annual Christmas campaign.  What an impact you are making with your giving! We have delivered 128 hampers so far, and we have 19 more to deliver, bringing us to a total of 147!!! Last year we delivered 72 hampers, so we have more than doubled last years giving to this project.  We want to express a HUGE THANK-YOU to all of you who have participated in the "Hampers Of Hope 2012" Campaign!  

What a "Hamper Of Hope"
looks like when delivered.

Jennifer and a completed
hamper.

Please note, the Christmas campaign is officially past the deadline to give them as Christmas gifts, however that does not mean you can't get in on the "Hamper Of Hope" campaign throughout the year.  The hampers make excellent birthday gifts for your friends and family in lieu of something in Canada, give a gift to a needy family on their behalf! This can be done any-time  for any occasion or reason.  We will make sure you get photo's and a brief bio of the family you are blessing!

The School sponsorship campaign is also a huge success, with all of the children fully sponsored for the 2013 school year! Again, a HUGE THANK-YOU to all who participated in this initiative! The lives of some very needy little Kenyans will be blessed, for the long term, because you gave! The gift of education cannot be underestimated.  It can't be stolen, it can't be returned and it never expires!! Once received, its yours for as long as you live! That is the kind of difference you have made!!!

Marjorie and Nicole in front of
the half-way completed first home.

Finally Mission:180's big project! The housing project on our property at "Kona Baridi", (Cold Corner), at the base of the Ngong Hills in Kajiado District Kenya.  We are actively building a "village" or community if you will where there was not one before.  This community will consist of at least 12 homes, a playground, greenhouses and animal husbandry for self sustaining food, renewable sustainable power in the form of wind turbines and solar energy, renewable sustainable fuel in the form of a Bio-Gas system for cooking, water from our already functioning well and community water project.  Each of these homes is budgeted at $50,000 Canadian dollars. There will also be the smaller projects for the other elements of the village that I just mentioned. We will keep you informed as we become aware of costs for those projects.

Right now, we are just over halfway towards completing the first home.  We need to raise another $22,000 to see it ready to be lived in.  This first home will be an Infant Rescue Centre. So many infants are abandoned in Kenya every day thrown away like so much trash by mothers in extreme poverty and despair. It is often because these babies are the product of prostitution, incest or rape and are therefore culturally taboo.  Our first priority will be to begin rescuing these infants, literally from the claws  of certain death.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE THIS A PART OF YOUR CHRISTMAS GIVING!

To participate in making this first home become operational ASAP, please consider making a contribution towards the completion of this first home. No amount is too small or too great! If 44 people  gave $500.00, or 88 gave $250.00, or 220 of you gave $100.00........you get the picture! This is not a huge sum of money, and if we work together we can see this and all 12 homes completed and so many children and widows given a new lease on life! 

Thanks for taking the time to read this update on the work of Mission:180 Ministries.  May you be blessed as you consider what you can do now and in the future. To those of you who have contributed, and who continue to give to make it possible for this work to continue, we say THANK-YOU and may God bless you richly for your continued generosity!

A Tough Day!

This lady was in a serious car accident
just the day before we arrived at her home
to help her. She was in extreme pain. 

We started out today to deliver Hampers Of Hope like any other day.  We had no idea how emotionally draining and impacting this day would be. It was just one of those days where each family we visited was in such desperate need, and with heartbreaking gut wrenching circumstances.

We have these visits planned in advance by our community liaison a few days in advance.  The first home we were planned to visit today experienced a serious car accident yesterday.  The mom was riding in a public transportation vehicle that went over an embankment and down a very steep and large slope, before crashing into a local home. When we arrived today she was injured and in extreme pain and she had not yet seen a doctor. She should have been rushed to hospital from the accident scene, instead she walked home!!!  We gave her one of the hampers, then prayed with her as she wept. We could hear that each breath was laboured and painful.  We gave her some money so she could go to the clinic and get x-rays and a check up.

Recently Widowed, this elderly gentleman was still
very much grieving. His daughter, shown here, wept
throughout our visit.

He is a very kind older gentleman.

We made our way to the home of a man in his sixties.  His daughter and grandchildren lived with him, and everyone was grieving. A month ago his wife of many years was tragically killed in a car accident. He is a broken man, and he was very emotional when we visited him.  His daughter wept uncontrollably while we talked and prayed together. It was a tough visit.  We left them with hugs and shared tears as we felt a little bit of the burden of his grief.  In a polygamist culture, this old gentleman had been married to only one woman, whom he clearly adored as the love of his life. In my career as a minister I have often felt so overwhelmed by the circumstances and challenges people share with me, and I have often wished I could do so much more for them.  This would be one of those days, and this was one of those situations. They were so grateful in their extreme poverty to receive a two to three month supply of food, but I tell you it felt like such a small token in light of their need and grief.

He is a very scared and confused
little boy.

10 year old Meja. 

We made our way to the next homestead and my heart sank. There was a  ten year old little boy named Meja.  He is very cute, but looked frightened and a little lost. I knew something was wrong when he did not move or look at us. Even when we broke out the sweets he did not even move. Three months ago this little boy began to lose his sight.  Today when we met him, he is mostly blind. He can't go to school anymore, he can't play, and he only moves on his own in very familiar surroundings.  He is a scared and confused little boy, and I wept openly as I prayed for him. I just kept thinking about how scared, how terrified he must be. In such a short timeframe he has gone from being a student, a playmate to his siblings and a helper to his mother to being completely dependant and unable to even walk freely around his home, nonetheless run and play as he should! I am very upset as I write this, with all kinds of questions going through my mind, feeling overwhelmed by my emotions. I think about what I would do for my son if this happened to him. I think about how helpless and guilty his mom must be feeling. my friends we need to help this little guy.  He has yet to see a doctor who can help him.  They don't have money for their daily food needs, so medical care is an impossibility to him.  Mission:180 is here in Kenya for a number of purposes, and one of those is to help fund medical care when its needed.  Meja is one of the cases that we will be helping.  ASAP! He may have a very treatable condition, he may need surgery, whatever the case may be, we are committed to helping this little guy.  WE NEED YOUR HELP.  Please consider contributing a little bit to help Meja. If we all do a little, together we can impact his little life.  Maybe we can stop the fear and bring back some joy and hope. As we say in Kiswahili, "twende pamoja", lets go together to make a difference!