Archive for September, 2011

Purity Karega, a  Form II student at St. Clare , provides her insights why everyone is living with hunger in Kenya.

WHY THE FAMINE IS CONTINUING IN KENYA

BY PURITY

During the summer seasons, there normally is a shortage of food, as many parts of the world do not receive sufficient rainfall. This is what is affecting Kenya today. Large numbers of people in Kenya, especially North Eastern Kenya are dying of hunger.

The North Eastern people depend on their livestock for food. When there is shortage of rain, the grass dries and the cattle starve from lack of water and pasture. The people move from place to place together with their animals looking for water and pasture. Some of them die on the way with their animals when no water is found.

The cattle are very important to their community as they provide meat, milk, blood and skin, which they use as mattresses, in their manyattas (homes). They do not grow crops in their area because of the climate and therefore must buy vegetables from farmers of other parts of Kenya.

The imported food from other countries like the U.S.A. to Kenya never benefits all the citizens. Why? It is because our leaders are greedy. They distribute the food among themselves and sell it for personal profit instead of serving the nation.

Instead of planning for water projects to the dry areas like the North Eastern part of Kenya, they sit back and forget about them. This is the cause of Kenya becoming poorer and poorer day by day.

For me here at St Clare, I am focused and putting more effort into my studies to become one of the leading women of Kenya in the generation to come, a leader who will fight this corruption.

Recently we paid a visit to Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia to visit Joseph Mutuma and to thank the administration to for the scholarship they provided to Joseph.

In a conversation with Lauri Strimkovsky, vice president of financial affairs \, we learned Chestnut Hill College has also made a commitment to provide a scholarship to a girl from the first graduating class at St. Clare in 2014.

This is wonderful news and motivational news. The oldest group of students at St. Clare  and pictured to the left is presently completing Form II (2nd year high school)  and will graduate high school in December 2013. So one of the girls pictured here will be coming to Chestnut Hill College in January 2014. Can you imagine what an opportunity this presents to these students and to the whole of St. Clare?  THANK YOU CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE!!!!!

Sr. Kathryn is one of the four Adrian Dominican Sisters who went to Kenya to assist Fr. Riwa at the St. Clare Centre a year ago.

She is with the girls everyday and can see the effects on the children.  In an email this week she wrote: “Thank you so much for your effort to raise money for food. We are doing our part here by planting as much as possible in the space that our yard
allows.

The girls are showing signs of malnutrition. Because I am the school barber, I have noticed the hair of these girls has become brittle and actually changes color from the normal blackto a rust color and their hair is actually thinning and falling out. Belliesare distended. We have all noticed this is becoming more prevalent, especially with the younger girls in classes 3 and 4. The girls tire more easily and fall asleep in classes when this rarely happened before. Doctors are sending back reports from hospital when girls are taken there that they are anemic. I know Fr. Riwa is doing all he can. But we are very worried.”

A special Food Campaign has been started to assist the children. ANYONE WISHING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE SPECIAL FOOD FUND CAN SEND A CHECK TO ‘FRIENDS OF KENYAN ORPHANS’ (920 BERKSHIRE ROAD, GROSSE POINTE, MI 48230) or send a donation on PayPal through this website.

So many people ask “Is St. Clare like Oprah’s school in South Africa or Madonna’s school for girls in Malawi??  The answer is NO!!!  Oprah’s school is a day school. Madonna’s school is a boarding school. St. Clare is very unique. It is a different approach to orphans and women in Afica.

The St. Clare Girls’ Centre is much more than a school with a dormitory ….it is HOME. Staffed by caring individuals who act in several capacities the most important being parent, teacher and friend, the Centre becomes family for every abandoned girl who is fortunate enough to have been rescued from the destructive environment of the streets and welcomed into the nourishing arms of St. Clare.  Each new girl is welcomed by a family of sisters and caring adults who provide structure and guidance paving the road to a productive future. As family, each girl is given nutritious meals, a bed of her own, challenging classes, friendship, companionship and a feeling of safety.  Within a short period of time, each girl realizes they are HOME.

We had the unique pleasure of making a mission appeal at St. Anne’s Parish in Detroit. Founded in 1701 it is the oldest church in Detroit and one of the oldest in the country. The people of Ste. Anne welcomed us warmly and understood the plight of the children in Kenya. They have responded generously. Pictured here are Nabor and Guillermina Hernandez and Connie Meade who are parishioners of St. Anne’s.

The parish is well remembered for Fr. Gabriel Richard, who was not only a saintly man, but an extraordinary pastor of St. Anne from 1802-1832. He is remembered as the co-founder of the University of Michigan, being a member of congress representing Michigan, founding the first newspaper in Michigan, establishing the first school for the blind in the Midwest and bringing looms to the Midwest so single women could learn a trade and support their families.

We are most impressed by the fact Fr. Richard visited his entire parish each year. That may not seem like much but when you consider his parish included all of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas, that is
quite a feat on horseback in the early 1800’s.

We are most indebted to Sr. Angela Cerna Plata, IHM, who is the pastoral associate at the parish and a long time friend. Because the 10 AM mass was totally in Spanish, Sr. Angela translated our message for us to the people. She was
excellent. Thank you Sr. Angela and thanks to Fr. Tom, the pastor, who warmly welcomed us to Ste. Anne.

Pictured here are Sr. Angela with Bud and Angela Hernandez.

The Sponsorship Program continues to be the life support system for the St. Clare Girls’ Centre. As of today there are 96 sponsors who contribute $480 each year to clothe, feed, educate and shelter a girl at St. Clare for an entire year.

Throughout the year the children exchange letters with their sponsors. Through the letters the children learn, even though they are abandoned and orphaned, there is someone who loves and cares for them.

Here a teacher is sitting with some of the children assisting them to compose their letters to their sponsors. It is an opportunity for the children to share their lives with someone who cares for them as individuals.

Because the mail system in East Africa is slow and uncertain, all letters are scanned and sent by email to the state-side coordinator, Pat Harrington. Pat then downloads the letters, one by one, and forwards it to the sponsors. It is a long demanding process but the only safe way to move letters from the States to Kenya and back again.

Many more sponsors are needed. You can see the joy on this child’s face as you reads a letter from her sponsor.

We encourage you to consider being a sponsor. You can be a sponsor as an individual, a family, a class or a group such as a book club or Rotary. It only costs $480 a year to support a child and let her know she is not alone in this world.

The multi year drought in East Africa has resulted in famine in Kenya and hunger is knocking at the door of St. Clare and the Children’s Village.  Fr.Riwa could see this coming and took drastic action months ago by cutting meal portions in half in an attempt to make the little they had last longer and planting every possible inch of land.  When the crops failed to yield the expected amount of food, this week Fr. Riwa reported he has run out of options. “You cannot believe it that these days I have been disturbed because of the food crisis. I have borrowed funds from my friends to buy food as I cannot send the children away. I have a very big responsibility but I know that God will not abandon me. Yesterday I looked at the children and asked myself why I ever started this project. There is not enough food and the children have no clothes. I pray that the Lord touches the people of good will to come to our aid.”

A special Food Campaign has been started to assist the children. ANYONE WISHING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE SPECIAL FOOD FUND CAN SEND A CHECK TO ‘FRIENDS OF KENYAN ORPHANS’ (920 BERKSHIRE ROAD, GROSSE POINTE, MI 48230) or send a donation on PayPal through this website.

Mrs. Karen Lizzza, a teacher at Seneca Middle School in the Michigan Chippewa Valley District presented FRIENDS OF KENYAN ORPHANS with a check for $1,806 from the fund raising activity of the 6th graders at Senecca School. Together these children are sponsoring one of the girls at the St. Clare Centre. These children definitely understand the plight of their brothers and sisters in Kenya. Kids helping kids. Nothing like it!!!  Now there’s a future in which we place our hope. Thank you Seneca Middle School students and teachers.

When the four Dominican sisters arrived in Kenya last October, they were visited a group from Italy who gifted the St. Clare Centre with some art supplies. Having artistic talent and training, Sisters Maurine and Renee began teaching art to the girls. Fr. Riwa added his two-cents by naming their art room The Michelangelo Academy.

The Italians returned this year and returned to Italy with the artful work of the girls, held an art fair and raised 1300 Euros ($1,870 USD) for St. Clare.

Sisters Maurine and Renee also directed the students to paint this Pentecost mural in their dining hall.

Every child at St. Clare is given  two pairs of pants, two shirts and two sets of undergarments as well as a pair of flip flops and a sweater. These are mostly already used clothing shipped over from Europe, US and Canada and sold on the open street markets. Fr. Riwa can purchase these for less than $5 per child. Remember the motto: “Simple Living, High Thinking.”  So used clothing fits the motto.

Each child is expected to wash and care for their clothing. So while they are wearing one set, the other is drying “somewhere.”  Up to now the drying area has been any railing, fence, fence post, rock, bush or gate on which they can lay their clothing in the sun. On some days St. Clare looked like a market itself, with all the clothing laying out drying in the sun.

That is all about to change for their will be designated area on the roof where the children can hang their clothing, in the sun and on lines. St. Clare will lose its “open street market look.”

The drying area is on top the the snaitation block on the top floor and close to the dorms. It has a tall railing around the top of the wall to assure the safety of the girls and to allow the wind to assist in the drying.

The drying area and the sanitation block are schdeuled to be completed in the next two months.