Come and see what Meridian readers have done-and are doing in Kenya. You can help, too. See below. The pictures that you see here are the faces of the very people who will have water with your help. They are not stock photos or faces of Africans from somewhere. They are the people of Mbele.
Some of us don’t like to think about the poor very much-because it makes us sad. We vaguely know some horrible statistics-1 out of every 9 children die before the age of five. Almost half the world – over three billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day.
It’s easy to ignore because it seems so far away. We might think they are used to it. Or maybe they don’t work hard enough-or they are not as smart as we are. Forget that. People who believe that have never been in one of the rural villages of the world where people are smart, work really hard with great capacity, and life is all about figuring out how to survive.
You can think that the poor are just those sad faces you see on TV. You can lump them all together like a mass of people, who by some accident of birth, don’t have your privileges.
We know better.
Last year Meridian readers partnered with CHOICE Humanitarian to build school rooms and desks in a rural village called Mbele, two hours north of Mombasa, Kenya. Now the people of this village have faces for us. They have identities. They have names. We recognize them like we would our own neighbors. They are brother and sister. They are our children.
We know Halima with her deep dimples.
We know Winnie who always wanted to hold hands.
Having helped once in this little village, Meridian Magazine could not forget these people who now have faces and names to us. We learned they need something even more basic than education. They need water. Their arid village, where so many of the homes are made of dried mud, has none.
Every ounce of water they drink, every drop they wash with, the women carry into the village on their heads in containers that carry up to 5 gallons or 40 pounds. The round trip is more than two miles. One load of wash alone requires five trips.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY
(Note: Be sure and put “KENYA MBELE” in the comments section to assure the money will go to this project)
The sky is hard. It doesn’t rain. Water comes by women carrying a burden on their heads where every step is grueling.
Worst of all-they can’t grow gardens. The children in Mbele only rarely eat fruit or vegetables. They subsist on something called ugalli-a ground maize cooked with flour that has a doughy consistency and very little nutrition. Often they only have one meal a day.
No wonder their legs are stick-thin-and too often the eyes of the little ones are glazed over with tired apathy.
So Meridian Magazine and CHOICE Humanitarian are in the midst-right now-of drilling a bore hole 300 feet through bedrock to get water for the village. We are doing this, in part, because of the generosity of readers who have supplied the funds to make this possible.
With the well will come a very large vegetable garden right by the school and other vegetable gardens and newly-planted fruit trees that can produce for the children and their families. With the well comes sufficient drinking water. It’s a miracle beyond comprehension for these precious people who have so little.
But we still need help. Many Meridian readers have already given generously-but we are short on funds. In addition to drilling the well, we need pipes to carry water to vegetable gardens, materials to fence the gardens off from the roving wild animals, including lumbering elephants, that would devour the food, seeds and trees to plant.
Will you help us?
Of the nearly $32,000 needed for this project we are still about $4,800 short of our needs.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY
(Note: Be sure and put “KENYA MBELE” in the comments section to assure the money will go to this project)
All of us always want to make a difference somewhere, somehow. Would you consider making a donation today for this well project that Meridian readers are building in a forgotten African village? Maybe with your help, they will not feel so forgotten.
The pictures that you see here are the faces of the very people who will have water with your help. They are not stock photos or faces of Africans from somewhere. They are the people of Mbele.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY
(Note: Be sure and put “KENYA MBELE” in the comments section to assure the money will go to this project)
Do something extraordinary today (as you so often do.) Even small donations are so helpful. Remember: A lot of people, giving even a little, can make a big difference. And in the case of Mbele, YOU will make all the difference.
Though Halima does not know you, she will thank you for changing her life.
Winnie would probably do as she has done before-give up the best food she has ever had to eat to give you a present.
<a target="_self" href="https://choicehumanitarian.
<hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ />org/donate/”>PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY
(Note: Be sure and put “KENYA MBELE” in the comments section to assure the money will go to this project)
SUDI MWAKILESHOJanuary 29, 2014
It was wonderful for the full participation of the community ,school and choice Kenya ----with the wonderful family from US the SCOTS, and the rest of his friend ...
Norma JaegerJune 10, 2013
Yesterday I spent time writing out my goals for the next year. Included was a goal to contribute to worthy causes. Here is the answer, or one answer. I have contributed $114. This certainly is a worthy cause.