After I wrote The Power Of A Penny, I traveled to Africa to experience the amazing things I had learned about a humanitarian organization called, Koins for Kenya did with the money I donated to their cause from the sale of my books. After spending two weeks in rural Kenya with people living in absolute poverty, my heart was touched and I now how a love for these people, most of who I don't even know their names.
While we were in Kenya, a twelve year old boy named Charo died under a mango tree fifty feet from where our group was sitting one night. He and his family had come into the village where we were staying after walking for several hours trying to get medical help. They had been turned away from two other villages and were headed to the dispensary in Mynzeni to get help, but didn't make it in time. I can't describe the feeling of sadness I had the next day as we traveled to the village of Gona where Charo was from to deliver pencils to his classmates. They were so grateful and happy to see us, but we knew they were mourning the loss of their friend. While we were there, the villagers presented the leader of our expedition with an envelope containing ten percent of what it would cost to build a new school in their village. The Koins for Kenya foundation requires the villagers to come up with this amount before they ever consider helping them with a project. This amount is a huge sacrifice for the villagers because most of them make an average of $300 per year. But they know that educating their children is the only way they can break the cycle of poverty they are living in. Not only were they willing to donate the money,they committed to provide all of the unskilled manual labor required in the building of the school.
I was horrified when I saw some of the classrooms where these kids where attending. They were little more than dirt, bug covered floors with dry mud walls topped by a thatched roof. During the rainy season, the roof leaks, and the walls collapse after turning to mud. The few classrooms that did have desks had four and five children squished onto a desk built to sit three students.
I was so touched by Charo's classmates, I was inspired to come home and donate a tree to the Tree's for Charity Gala in my town in honor of Charo. While I was in Kenya, I had several girls from the secondary school help me made beaded heart ornaments to decorate the tree. I also brought home handmade huts like the one Charo lived in and little Kenyan people made from banana leaves. There is a colorful garland was made from the fabric of the conga skirts the women wear. The women didn't have anything to decorate for the ceremony when they turned the money over for their school. So they had all snipped a little bit of material off of the top of their conga skirts and tied to a string which they put up to decorate the pathway in their village for us.
One hundred percent of the money from the sale of this tree will go towards a school for Charo's classmates. A two room school costs $10,000.00 to build. I don't anticipate making any where near that to go towards the school, but I do hope to add whatever I can towards the cost.
Here is a link that will give you more information about the Tree's for Charity Gala: http://www.koins4kenya.blogspot.com/.
There will be a free viewing for the public of all of the tree's this Friday and Saturday at the Western Park in Vernal, Utah. Monday night there will be a dinner and live auction where the tree will be sold. Anyone wishing to contribute to this cause without actually buying the tree can either donated directly to the Koins for Kenya foundation, www.koinsforkenya.org or call the Vernal City Chamber of Commerce and specify that you would like to add a tax deductible tree topper to Charo's tree.
No comments:
Post a Comment