Knowledge is the Shield

Ugunja, in Nyanza Province, has the highest record of HIV infection in Kenya. A $16,000 Tangible Love grant, made possible through the Community of Christ Oblation Fund, will help more than 256 children orphaned because of this disease. Beyond their basic survival needs, these orphans, like all children, need education, good health, and good nutrition. Their guardians must grow enough food to feed them and engage in small trade in an effort to support their families.

Robert Wanga, Kenya Mission Centre financial officer, said, “The loss of a parent or spouse is always a very sad affair. However, it is double tragedy when that loss occurs as a result of contracting and slowly going through the debilitating effects of slow, painful death, which is often the situation with most HIV/AIDS sufferers. By the time death calls, all family assets and emotional energies are sapped—gone for good. Most of our orphans are so deeply traumatized by the torturous nature of the deaths of their parents that it becomes an uphill task to get them back on their feet, especially when they are so young and tender. Therefore, to me, this program causes life to return to the orphans; it is like the reincarnation of their lost parents.”

The Ugunja Orphans Support program began in 1999 to meet the needs of children whose parents have died as the result of HIV/AIDS. This program assists orphaned children by:

• Supporting educational needs from preschool to university
• Creating an awareness of HIV/AIDS
• Educating society about the need for foster parenting
• Providing food supplements, clothing, and foster parents
• Educating about positive living and the need for HIV testing
• Promoting formal and informal education among orphans
• Reducing HIV prevalence in targeted areas
• Mobilizing community participation in providing HIV education, care, and support, and
• Implementing this experience to the entire Kenya Mission Centre.

Orphans take the time from daily routines for a little fun.

This project serves as a springboard and pacesetter for many others, which can be replicated across Africa. The reality of the outcomes of HIV/AIDS as an epidemic is evident across the entire continent. This program can provide lessons for others on how to mainstream the support of orphans and widows as an integral part of the ministries of the church in Africa.

Community Outreach

Church members in the various congregations in Kenya have contributed used schoolbooks, school uniforms, and clothing, and have visited homes to encourage the orphans and widows. Urban-area church members have opened their homes to orphans during school vacations so they can receive counseling and tender care from congregation members.

Youth and younger children from the congregations have embraced and extended themselves to the orphans as though they were their siblings. They have been welcomed into Sun-day schools, Bible study classes, youth choirs, and drama and concert groups, where all have warmly received their contributions.

The community has been blessed by becoming aware of many compassionate people worldwide who care and share so that the underprivileged may obtain the same opportunities others enjoy. The community has been challenged by the generosity of people in faraway places and has now become sensitive to their own ability to give, however small that contribution may be. This project is not an outside imposition or gift but a complement to what local communities already were doing.

Maureen Anyango Odour

“I am 19 years old, the firstborn, and the only girl in my family. I lost my father when I was nine. Because of ill health and lack of support from my late father’s relatives, my mother struggled to put food on our table. In 2000 my maternal aunt took me into her home, providing for my basic needs and psychological support. During this time I excelled in school and for the first time was enrolled in a boarding school far from home, at Sinaga. I made up my mind that I would work hard to reach my goal of becoming an accountant in the future.

“During grades 9–10, my aunt provided for my every need, and I faced no dire difficulties. That all changed when, in 2006, my rescue angel suddenly died. My life shattered around me. My uncle reassured me that life would continue on as before. But because of the cultural demands of the Luo tribe, he was forced to remarry. His interests soon shifted from those of my education and well-being to those of his new wife, and I was on the verge of being expelled from Sinaga because of my inability to pay my education fees.

“At the time, my mother was attending the Community of Christ in Ugunja. She approached the pastor with my needs and he in turn enrolled my late father in the Ugunja Orphans & Widows Support project. The church took care of my debt of 57,000 shillings (US$900). Through this program, volunteers and church officials visit us regularly at home and at school. We are constantly embraced in the arms of our Christian brothers and sisters worldwide whose giving ensures that we continue our education, receive medical attention, and raise the food needed to nourish our bodies.

“I have an interest in poetry and wish to dedicate this poem to the youth who have lost hope in life. May you always look ahead.”

Look Ahead

Look ahead.
Do not look back anymore
except to gather the lessons
your past gives you—stimulation.

To your future.
Yes, if you fall do not be discouraged,
but get up.
If others are ahead of you,
follow them.
Do not give up but keep on going toward your goals.
Go with all your strength and might.
Swiftly or slowly,
it doesn’t matter,
but always look ahead.
Your destiny is not to reach quickly
but to arrive at the right moment.

Thanks to those who generously support the World Ministries and Oblation Funds, Community of Christ is able to respond as a worldwide church through staff, ministries, and grants to needs like those in Ugunja. Visit the the church’s Web site to learn more about or contribute to World Minis-tries ( www.CofChrist.org/worldministries ) and Tangible Love (www.CofChrist.org/tlove).

—Patty Wilson reporting
2009 January Herald