Help Send Books to Impoverished Children in Meru, Kenya

Last June, I completed my 40th month as chair of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition --- and stepped off the board. We hired a full time Executive Director, Kristin Davis, in February so OWC is in great hands. I decided I was suffering from "founder's syndrome"  and decided to get out of Kristin way! 

Which let me return to my OTHER passion -- mission service in Central Kenya. 

Eight years ago a remarkable member of my church, Florence Mubichi, completed a Masters in Nursing and returned home to Kenya. Before leaving she said, "Come and see how God is working among my people.”  So in 2005, I was part of an 18-member mission team that renovated a children's ward at Maua Methodist Hospital near Florence's home. While there, I asked church leaders, "If I brought a mission team to Meru, what would you most want us to do?" Eager to promote a culture of reading, they asked for a community library.

Through the United Methodist Church's Volunteers in Mission office, I led a mission team to Kenya in 2006 and two more in 2007. The teams and other friends of the Mubichi family built the library; sent over  20,000 children's books and textbooks; purchased furnishings for the library; cataloged 5,000+ books, and provided support staff to the board of the Miriam Kanana Mubichi Foundation (MKMF) which was founded by the Mubichis in 2003 after the tragic death of their middle daughter (see http://mkmf.org/). 

Now I am working to ship 120 boxes to MKMF. The boxes contain children's books donated by Oklahoma students (for impoverished primary schools) and nursing textbooks donated by OU's College of Nursing (for the nursing school at Maua Methodist Hospital). Some boxes contain Florence Mubichi's personal belongings (she died March 22, 2010 from ovarian cancer while working on a PhD and teaching at OU -- see http://ow.ly/epT2P and http://ow.ly/epTf0 html).

A couple boxes hold teaching materials Dale and Sandi Troup will need once they reach Kenya October 23. You can read why they sold everything and moved with their 13 year old son to Kenya to volunteer with MKMF at http://thetroups.net/sandi/2012/04/kenya-longstory/. You can hear about all the things they will be doing in Kenya at http://thetroups.net/sandi/2012/04/mkmf/.

The boxes moved from my garage (see image) to a shipping firm to be weighed, measured and palletized. We anticipate the total shipping expenses to be $4,800. I have raised $1,400 so far. 

I invite you to join in this wonderful mission effort. You can donate $10 or more through the Seeds of Grace Foundation website (http://www.seedsofgracesite.com/).This 501(c)3 nonprofit was formed in the USA to support MKMF's work. Or you can mail a check to Seeds of Grace, PO Box 9534, Naperville, IL 60564. 

Whether this appeals to you or not, thank you very much for considering my request.  You can follow MKMF on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miriam-Kanana-Mubichi-Foundation/49684509342, read the Troups' blogs at http://www.thetroups.net/, and follow my Twitter account, http://twitter.com/MeruMission, about Meru and MKMF. 

If you have questions, ideas, suggestions about this effort, leave a comment or email me at merumission@gemail.com.  
:-)