We started our fund-raiser in mid-November 2011 with a goal of raising $12,000 to buy 2 acres of farm land for my friend, Agnes.
A short two months later... we have received $10,778! What a wonderful example of what can happen when people come together for a good cause!
God is so faithful! I've been praying about this for a long time. The idea started when some of my Kenyan friends sympathized with the plight of Agnes and advised me to buy her a parcel of land. At the time, it seemed like such an insurmountable task and I somewhat dismissed it from my mind. But, God grew the idea in my heart over the course of several years. Eventually, the time was ripe to put the plan into action.
So far, over 60 of you have reached into your pockets to lend a hand to a struggling single mom in the far-away land of Kenya. The donations have come in all sizes. Some of the donations have interesting stories behind them. These are a few examples of some of those behind-the-scenes stories:
- a portion of an unexpected disability check
- a portion of an unexpected payout from a class-action suit
- children giving their allowance and the parents matching it
- a husband and wife giving instead of giving each other a gift
- a great-grandmother giving in the name of her grand-children
- friends giving in the name of a young child on the occasion of his dedication, instead of gifts
- an author of a book giving a portion of the proceeds from the book sales
- a collection from a charity outreach group
- friends of mine from the continent of Africa - Zimbabwe, Burundi, and South Africa
- people who have lived in Africa in the past and have also purchased land for people they knew
- people who have visited various parts of Africa and have seen the need first-hand
- an anonymous person
The people giving the top 40 contributions received an apron made by Agnes, as a thank-you gesture. These 8 ladies represent the other 32.
I will continue to accept donations as they come in. I will also continue to send out updates like this.
I'm returning to Kenya in February, after a nice 3.5-month furlough in India and the States. Kenya's growing season starts almost immediately... in March; the harvest is in October. Because it's not realistic to think we can locate and purchase land just a few short weeks after my return, my goal will be to have it purchased sometime between November 2012 and March 2013. In the meantime, the money will sit in an account earning interest.
For this year's growing season, I'll provide Agnes with the money to rent land for the upcoming growing season. We did that last year and she had a successful harvest of maize (corn), watermelon, and peanuts. It was her first time to ever work a parcel of land as the farmer! In the past, she has always been a 'casual worker', hiring herself out to do the planting, weeding, and picking on a daily basis.
Agnes was very pleased with the outcome of all three crops, and I believe she learned a lot in the process. She told me, "Deb, it's a miracle. I've never had stored maize in my house!" The maize kernels are ground into flour, on a daily basis, and used to make 'ugali', their staple food. It's consistency is sort of like dry Cream of Wheat, and is eaten with ones fingers.
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| Agnes stands next to her almost-mature crop of maize |
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| Her youngest son, Zach, with their stored maize in the house |
Virtually nothing is straight-forward in Kenya. Looking for and buying land won't be an easy task. I would appreciate your prayers for me as we go about this. I also have a list of friends from whom I will seek advise. Some are Kenyans and some are expatriates that have already purchased land for their Kenyan friends. I will start this 'research' soon after arriving back in Kenya.
Please feel free to continue sharing this project with your friends and relatives. You can use the floating social media bar on the right or the bar right below this post. The original post launching the fundraiser is below this one. It still includes a video of Agnes telling her story and all the other details.
