Simple Joy Saturday

My Kenyan friend, Pastor Jonah's auntie is ill with a form of nose cancer and requires surgery. Since they are humble villagers the cost of the $900. Canadian/US required for the treatment is astronomical and beyond the means of individual villagers.  So they held a Harambee on Saturday (Harambee is a Kenyan tradition of community self-help events, eg. fundraising or development activities. Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili).

Here are photos of the Harambee.  You can see they went into the night with the fundraiser even though it was raining. These gentlemen are counting the funds.

Here is auntie addressing the participants.

I was pleased when I learned they raised $400. of the $900 fee required.  That is less than half of the total required but is a significant amount of money for those that only earn a few dollars a day.

Please pray that this family would be able to raise the rest soon to give this auntie the best chance at successful surgery. Thank you.

 Thank you to Jan of Australia for creating the Simple Joys meme.
Click here to participate.

A Mother's Heart

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all [men], especially
unto them who are of the household of faith.

Galatians 6:10

Dear friends, I have a request for you. The woman you see in the snapshot above is a woman who recently went to my friend's church offices in Kenya. Her son is in medical school and studying in Nairobi. The mother needs urgent help to meet his tuition fees of $1500. 00 US as school term has already begun.

She has exhausted all avenues of possible income generation. She has tried her best to ask people to help her raise money for her son and so far she has been able to raise $300 through a Harambee (fundraiser). But this is not enough. Her son is in 2nd year university (sophomore). She has sold all she has: chickens, cows, goats etc. She has tried her best. She didn't know what else to do so she went to the church asking for help. They could not do much, but gave her a lift to town and Pastor Jonah gave her a little of what he had. Hearts are heavy for her need.

Pastor Jonah is letting some people know of her need to see who might be able to help financially and also in prayer. I am sending directly to my friends but also decided to post it here. If you can help, any amount is accepted and appreciated. Please leave me a comment here if you wish to help this woman. If you know someone who might help, please feel free to send this post to them. God bless you for your help.