Thursday 17 October 2013

Our Biggest News EVER!!! Meet Baby Marjorie!


It has been 4 years since Jennifer and I knew we were supposed to be here in Kenya.  We have been here since December 2010 full time. We have struggled, cried, pushed and pulled our way along with the encouragement, prayer support, and financial support of friends and family, and today, October 17, 2013, the dream became a reality!

Yesterday we had a very important meeting with some government officials out at our project. We needed their approval to open the doors and actually take in the babies we are so anxious to rescue! We know they are out there waiting, needing our help, and we needed that approval. We have been praying for the little people we have not yet even met yet. By the time the meeting/inspection was winding down, we had our long awaited approval. WE ARE READY TO RESCUE BABIES!!!!

Early this morning we got the call we have been waiting for! 14 hours after receiving our approval we were asked to pick up a baby who had been abandoned on the side of the road! We rushed to the police station to pick up a beautiful baby girl.

My emotions are raw as a write this, because our excitement at realizing the dream of actually doing what we are called here to do is tempered by the terrible circumstances these little ones come into the world under.

MEET BABY MARJORIE!!


We named her after a very dear friend of Jennifer and I,
and a great friend of Mission:180.  She has visited us here,
and she loves the Maasai people as much as she is loved by them!

Baby Marjorie arriving home after a very rude welcome to the planet!
Jennifer and I holding this little miracle! Words cannot convey
the emotions of this moment.


Jennifer is a natural! A long awaited snuggle!



Marjorie meets her house mother
and our nurse, Alice!



Snug and warm in her new bed!

Marjorie's story:  Baby Marjorie was born sometime last night. Her mother, for whatever reason, (we must NOT judge these mothers, their circumstances are beyond anything we will ever experience in the west), put her into a plastic shopping bag, still attached to the placenta, and tied the bag and discarded her on the side of the road.  She was found very cold and wet at 4:00 AM and taken to the police station in the area!! When we got to her she was crying loudly, very hungry and very much in need of some love and care. She was filthy, with scratches from the road, gravel and stones stuck to her little body.  We rushed her to her new home where we got her cleaned up, warmly dressed and fed. What A Day!


My heart nearly exploded as I held her and tried to pray for her through my tears.

So much planning, so much preparation, so much work to raise the budget to be able to do this.....so many emotions flooded in as all the hard work to get to this point all melted away at the absolute JOY of being able to IMPACT HER LIFE! Now a whole new kind of work begins!

So, as you read this, please know we cannot operate this Infant Rescue Centre/Children's home without you! We need your support, and we are so grateful for it! If you are already one of our regular supporters, thank you! If you do not either sponsor a child, or participate in our regular budget, please consider becoming a member of our financial partnership team! We need your help. Currently the general budget is almost $1,000.00 per month short to meet the needs of all we are doing here.

MONTHLY SUPPORT:
To be a part of our monthly support, please send me an email, jason@mission180.ca and we will get you started, or set yourself up through PayPal by clicking the buttons at the top right hand side of this blog.

BABY SPONSORSHIP:

We know the approximate cost to have an infant in long term residential care, and we have broken this up into 4 sponsorship slots of $40.00. If you have ever considered sponsoring a child in a desperately needy situation, may I suggest NOW IS THE TIME!!! We will keep you so connected to how your contributions are making an IMPACT in the life of a little person in Kenya! While Baby Marjorie is already fully sponsored, we will most certainly have others very soon! We need great Canadian people to sign up to help us help them!

One more time, we want to say THANK-YOU!!! We are so excited here to be realizing this dream, seeing it come true before  our eyes, and we cannot do it without your help! So, THANK-YOU!

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Mission:180's 2013 Christmas Gift Giving Options


It is only the end of September but we here at Mission:180 Kenya are already gearing up for the Christmas season.  We are very excited to announce our annual "Christmas Gift Giving Options" for the current year!!

This Christmas season we would like to present you with these options to help you give back:


Hampers of Hope

A Christmas hamper is not only a gift of food; it's a gift of HOPE!  It's a gift that says someone cares about us!

The cost of the hamper is $70 Canadian and is broken down as follows:
                $65 for food items in hamper
                $5 cost of delivering hamper (fuel)




Each hamper will contain 137 pounds of staple foods made up of the following:
                2 - 2kg bags of Home Baking Flour 
                2 - 5kg bags of Rice
                2 - 2kg bags of Sugar

                3 - 10kg bags of Maize Flour

                10 - 1kg bags of Wairimu Beans or Nyayo Beans
                1 - 500 gram bag of Tea
                1 - 2kg tub of Cooking Fat
                1 – 1kg bag of salt
                1 – 800 gram Laundry/Dish soap

This is enough food to feed a family of four to six people for up to 10 weeks.  By donating a hamper, it not only provides much needed physical sustenance but also hope and encouragement that somewhere there are people who know about them and their situation, and who care enough to give generously to help them.   




 


It is our goal that by mid December each hamper donor will receive an email from Jennifer with pictures and a short bio of the family that received your hamper.  If your payment is delayed your hamper might not be able to be delivered in time for Christmas.  If this is the case you will receive an email telling you that a hamper has sponsored by you or on behalf of you and that the details of the family that received it will follow in January once it has been delivered.



If you would like to be a part of this program and purchase a Christmas Hamper as a gift for yourself or on behalf of someone else, please email Jennifer at jennifer@mission180.ca

Please ensure that you send an email to Jennifer to indicate how many hampers you would like to donate BEFORE you send payment.

Payment options are cheque or PayPal though our website at www.mission180.cabut please note that any payments made through PayPal will need to have a $2 transaction fee added to it.

                Paying by cheque - $70.00
                Paying by PayPal - $72 .00

Mission:180 will issue receipts for all hampers in early 2014.  

Final cut off for hampers will be November 15th.


Infant Formula
For a donation of $35.00 you can purchase 4 cans of infant formula for our Forever Homes.  We are hoping to have babies in our first home by the end of October as we are currently in the final stages of acquiring our license from the Kenyan government.  If you would like to sponsor infant formula this Christmas please email Jennifer at jennifer@mission180.ca for further details.


Furniture for House #2
We are nearing completion of our 2nd Infant Rescue Home and will soon need to furnish it with everything.  The cost to furnish an entire house is approximately $5,000.00.  If you would like to make a donation towards the cost to furnish the home please email Jennifer at jennifer@mission180.ca and I can provide you with further details.


Mission:180’s General Budget
We are always in need of donors for our general operating budget.  This budget funds everything we do in Kenya with the exception of the Hamper of Hope project.  The big projects that are funded through our general budget are the “Community Water Project” where we provide clean drinking water to 1,500 people and 3,500 animals EVERYDAY and our “Forever Homes” which will rescue 8 abandoned babies per home.  A one-time donation or pledged monthly giving can be set up to be automatically withdrawn from your bank account, through PayPal by going to our blog at www.m180.blogspot.com or of course by sending a cheque to our Saskatoon office.  Email me at jennifer@mission180.ca if you require further information.