Mama Beth, the headmistress of Hope preschool; in her own words regarding what "Hope" means to her:- It means working hard to earn a preschool teaching certificate with help from sponsors. It means waking up early every morning to work with kids and parents - teaching basic life skills, literacy and what it means to be a Christ follower. Most important, it means having a predictable job and being able to pay school fees for daughter Michelle, who is a high school student at Vulya Girls High School, in Machakos, Kenya. And lastly, it means having the opportunity to help and mentor young student teachers as they volunteer at Hope preschool, working hard to complete their studies and perhaps start their own preschools since jobs are hard to find in Kenya. Hope Kenya is proud to walk alongside Beth as she leads her community in the long journey out of poverty.
Hope Kenya Community
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
God remembers the lowly - Hope Kenya enables them.
Join Hope Kenya as we build the infrastructure to enable children's education and women's health.
Read:
Luke 2:8-20; John 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message (John 20:18).
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message (John 20:18).
Who was the first group of people to be invited to see the Christ-child? Who was the first eyewitness of the resurrected Christ?
On these two immensely important events, the birth and the resurrection of Jesus, we notice something interesting about God’s choice of witnesses—truly unlikely people. At the manger, we find shepherds; at the tomb, we meet some women.
During Jesus’ day, shepherds were normally poor, uneducated, uncultured, and considered uncouth. People looked down on them, and their work made them ceremonially unclean to participate in temple activities. Yet God the Father put them at the top of the invitation list for the most important birthday of all time—the birth of His Son!
Similarly, in ancient Jewish culture, women didn’t have much social standing. The rabbis often began temple meetings with the words, “Blessed art thou, O Lord, for thou hast not made me a woman.” Women were all but excluded from public religious life. It was rare that they were taught the Torah, even in private. Yet the risen Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene, a woman once possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9). She not only saw Him, she heard Him and touched Him. What a great privilege for this woman whose broken life had experienced true healing.
God remembers the lowly. He sees those who society marginalizes, and He lifts them up. The shepherds and Mary Magdalene rejoiced at receiving such grace. Their joy bubbled over, and they shared the good news with others (Luke 2:20; John 20:18).
As we reflect on God’s reaching out to us, we will similarly wonder at His amazing grace. And like the shepherds and Mary Magdalene, may we go and proclaim the good news to others!
Monday, October 15, 2012
How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya
... (NPR) by Michaeleen Doucleff...
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health tracked the texts and calls from nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya for an entire year and then used the data to make a map for how malaria spreads around the Texas-sized country. The results were unexpected.
The roads to and from the capital city, Nairobi, are the most heavily traveled, yet they aren't the most important for spreading the disease throughout the country.
Instead, regional routes around Lake Victoria serve as the major disease corridors for the parasite. And, towns along the routes are hot spots for transmitting malaria to the rest of the country.
Details: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/10/162643881/how-cellphones-helped-researchers-track-malaria-in-kenya
Cellphones are popping up all over in health care these days. They're monitoring our blood sugar, tracking the flu season and even mapping the junk food we eat at night.
But compared to a study just published in Science, these crowdsourcing tools look like small potatoes.
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health tracked the texts and calls from nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya for an entire year and then used the data to make a map for how malaria spreads around the Texas-sized country. The results were unexpected.
The roads to and from the capital city, Nairobi, are the most heavily traveled, yet they aren't the most important for spreading the disease throughout the country.
Instead, regional routes around Lake Victoria serve as the major disease corridors for the parasite. And, towns along the routes are hot spots for transmitting malaria to the rest of the country.
The data also confirm what a few epidemiologists had feared: Malaria seems to be getting into some African megacities, like Nairobi.
Malaria doesn't typically occur in large cities because mosquitoes don't thrive there. "But some studies suggest that mosquitoes are adapting to the city," Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami, tells Shots. "This study shows you where Nairobi is getting its malaria."
To curb malaria throughout Kenya, the disease-travel map points out precise areas for concentrating malaria control efforts and suggests places where stopping malaria won't have a big impact.
"It was thought that both the coastal and Lake Victoria region contributed to the spread of malaria," says epidemiologist Caroline Buckee, who led the study. "But travel around the coast wasn't a major source for spreading the parasite."
Buckee says these results could, one day, guide alert systems for phones. When people travel to and from a high-risk area, a text message could remind them to use a bed net or take other precautions.
Malaria is caught from mosquitoes, but people play a significant role in moving the parasite around. "Most people who carry the parasite are asymptomatic," Buckee says. "But when they get bitten, they transmit the parasite to other mosquitoes."
The insects tend to fly only about one kilometer throughout their short lives, but Kenyans are quite mobile.
Many are what Fuller calls "rurbanites." They spend a lot of time in cities but keep roots in the countryside. So they travel back and forth between rural and urban areas, such as the cities clustered along Lake Victoria.
To figure out how this travel pattern contributes to malaria transmission, Buckee and her team laid the cellphone data onto maps of malaria infections. The result was a travel network for both the humans and the malaria parasite.
A few years ago, health official used a similar strategy — on a smaller scale — to stay ahead of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. As people started fleeing the epidemic's epicenter, cellphone data predicted where the disease would spread and helped aid workers funnel supplies in right place and time.
Fuller says the current study breaks new ground. "People have known about the potential of using cellphones but haven't tapped into it," he says. "The sheer volume of this data is quite remarkable."
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health tracked the texts and calls from nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya for an entire year and then used the data to make a map for how malaria spreads around the Texas-sized country. The results were unexpected.
The roads to and from the capital city, Nairobi, are the most heavily traveled, yet they aren't the most important for spreading the disease throughout the country.
Instead, regional routes around Lake Victoria serve as the major disease corridors for the parasite. And, towns along the routes are hot spots for transmitting malaria to the rest of the country.
Details: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/10/162643881/how-cellphones-helped-researchers-track-malaria-in-kenya
Cellphones are popping up all over in health care these days. They're monitoring our blood sugar, tracking the flu season and even mapping the junk food we eat at night.
But compared to a study just published in Science, these crowdsourcing tools look like small potatoes.
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health tracked the texts and calls from nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya for an entire year and then used the data to make a map for how malaria spreads around the Texas-sized country. The results were unexpected.
The roads to and from the capital city, Nairobi, are the most heavily traveled, yet they aren't the most important for spreading the disease throughout the country.
Instead, regional routes around Lake Victoria serve as the major disease corridors for the parasite. And, towns along the routes are hot spots for transmitting malaria to the rest of the country.
The data also confirm what a few epidemiologists had feared: Malaria seems to be getting into some African megacities, like Nairobi.
Malaria doesn't typically occur in large cities because mosquitoes don't thrive there. "But some studies suggest that mosquitoes are adapting to the city," Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami, tells Shots. "This study shows you where Nairobi is getting its malaria."
To curb malaria throughout Kenya, the disease-travel map points out precise areas for concentrating malaria control efforts and suggests places where stopping malaria won't have a big impact.
"It was thought that both the coastal and Lake Victoria region contributed to the spread of malaria," says epidemiologist Caroline Buckee, who led the study. "But travel around the coast wasn't a major source for spreading the parasite."
Buckee says these results could, one day, guide alert systems for phones. When people travel to and from a high-risk area, a text message could remind them to use a bed net or take other precautions.
Malaria is caught from mosquitoes, but people play a significant role in moving the parasite around. "Most people who carry the parasite are asymptomatic," Buckee says. "But when they get bitten, they transmit the parasite to other mosquitoes."
The insects tend to fly only about one kilometer throughout their short lives, but Kenyans are quite mobile.
Many are what Fuller calls "rurbanites." They spend a lot of time in cities but keep roots in the countryside. So they travel back and forth between rural and urban areas, such as the cities clustered along Lake Victoria.
To figure out how this travel pattern contributes to malaria transmission, Buckee and her team laid the cellphone data onto maps of malaria infections. The result was a travel network for both the humans and the malaria parasite.
A few years ago, health official used a similar strategy — on a smaller scale — to stay ahead of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. As people started fleeing the epidemic's epicenter, cellphone data predicted where the disease would spread and helped aid workers funnel supplies in right place and time.
Fuller says the current study breaks new ground. "People have known about the potential of using cellphones but haven't tapped into it," he says. "The sheer volume of this data is quite remarkable."
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Community Development - Lessons learned #1
"... No one organization has the expertise to address all the challenges of a struggling community. Partnering with other organizations with specialized missions is essential for a holistic development strategy. But while a single agenda partner (organization or individual) can contribute much, their zeal for their own mission, and priorities, can sometime complicate matters.
A master development plan is needed to prioritize and coordinate a balanced involvement of partnering groups to protect the long-term vision ofr a restored, economically viable community. And big-picture visionary leadership is a gift of inestimable worth". - Toxic Charity by Robert D. Lupton.
Hope Kenya' strategic approach is based on spending a lot of time on the ground listening, asking questions and learning from the ‘locals’ to gain an accurate picture of real and felt need.
As long as a detailed roadmap is develop to transition from Relief to Development, Hope Kenya is comfortable working community leaders to figure out how short-term Relief could be implemented to ‘stop the bleeding”.
Our partnership with the Kenya government, local community leaders and local NGOs to improve and sustain community health in Kenya is a real winner. See link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2Dea1YB-LdfZlpmczRGX0dsV0k
A master development plan is needed to prioritize and coordinate a balanced involvement of partnering groups to protect the long-term vision ofr a restored, economically viable community. And big-picture visionary leadership is a gift of inestimable worth". - Toxic Charity by Robert D. Lupton.
Hope Kenya' strategic approach is based on spending a lot of time on the ground listening, asking questions and learning from the ‘locals’ to gain an accurate picture of real and felt need.
As long as a detailed roadmap is develop to transition from Relief to Development, Hope Kenya is comfortable working community leaders to figure out how short-term Relief could be implemented to ‘stop the bleeding”.
Our partnership with the Kenya government, local community leaders and local NGOs to improve and sustain community health in Kenya is a real winner. See link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2Dea1YB-LdfZlpmczRGX0dsV0k
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Catholic bishops in Kenya warn all Kenyans against use of contraceptives - At a time when our people are greatly affected by HIV/AIDS and preventable road carnage, we cannot go further to condone efforts at reduction of life.
The bishops of Kenya have decried renewed international efforts to promote contraception in Africa.
Contraception, the bishops write, “is both dehumanizing and goes against the teaching of the Church, especially in a country like Kenya where a majority of the people are Christians and God fearing. It already threatens the moral fabric of the society and is an insult to the dignity and integrity of the human person.”
“The drive by foreign agencies, whose motives we hardly comprehend, to target millions of girls and women in Africa for the artificial family planning program by the year 2020 is unimaginable, dangerous and could lead to destruction of the human society and by extension the human race,” the bishops said in a statement.
“We cannot allow our country to be part of an international agenda, driven by foreign funds and by so doing, losing our independence and our African values of the family and society,” the bishops continued. “The same foreign forces are dedicating billions of shillings promoting same-sex unions while millions of women across are dying due to lack of proper maternal care facilities.”
The bishops added:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15092
We would like to remind the government of Kenya that many countries which took such decisions are now regretting with declining populations and nobody to consume or enjoy the much hyped development. This obviously means that strategies were drawn to develop countries without consideration of the centrality of the human person, the reason for any development.
We the Catholic bishops in Kenya warn all Kenyans and the government that any development which does not protect the human person is meaningless and in vain. What is the use of development without all people and visions without values? Any development must be for the common good of people, as their security and protection.
It is not clear why such a large amount of money (Ksh 356 billion) is being used for contraceptives while many women are dying daily due to lack of proper medical care, food and housing. If such money or a portion of it was used to develop the underdeveloped parts of Kenya, the so-called threatening population of 64 million people in the year 2040 would be too low.
“The Catholic Church in Kenya believes that 64 million people are not too many, with proper planning where corruption, nepotism and individual egoistic trends are absent and a responsible government is in place,” the bishops continued. “There are other efficient ways of proactive and responsible parenthood through the practice of Natural Family Planning. This of course demands discipline through abstinence, which is a necessary value in married life. This should not be rubbished as impossible.”
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15092
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Bob finds Charity by Dr. Bjorn!
It’s Christmas Eve and all the TV channels are airing their top ten stories of the year. Here’s one of
my top ten.
I have two friends, actually, probably more than two, but these two play the heroes in my story. R. J.,
friend one, had a chain saw that “up-and-stopped.” He said he had dropped about 120 dollars in
repairs then it up-and-stopped again. “Nilson, you grew up with chain saws, would you take a look at
this piece-a-junk.” Never one to turn down a challenge, I dismembered the chain saw. New plug,
flush out fuel line, new fuel filter-- seemed like a good idea. Well, that piece-a-junk chain saw never
upped, much less stopped.
After a couple of months I screw up the courage to admit my failure to R.J. “Keep it. Tired of fooling
with that piece-a-junk.” Like I need a chain saw for a paper weight.
A couple of months later, it happens I’m having a cup with friend two, Bob, at Starbucks. Bob is the
kind of guy who makes America great. A little overweight, optimistic, always ready to tell a story; a
retired hospital engineer; inveterate tinkerer; he can fix anything. “What do you know about chain
saws?” “Let me take a look at it.”
Next week Bob has the chain running like new and says he’ll drop it by my place. “Bob, I have a big
chain saw. What do I need with another?” He’s says he doesn’t want it, cause his chain saw is even
bigger than mine (man talk). We think a minute and he suggests he puts it on Craig’s List and,
knowing I am going to Africa, why not see what I can do with the proceeds there? That’s how I end
up with four twenties that nobody wants.
Next week I find myself making home visits for Hope Kenya, a preschool in Miwani, a very poor
neighborhood of Machakos, Kenya. Hope Kenya gets kids out of the slum and prepares them to enter
primary school.
One of our worst hardship families is headed by a 19 year old mother with three boys 2, 4 and 6 years
old. Most of the people in this part of Kenya have been given Christian furst names, so to preserve
this young lady’s anonymity I shall call her Charity.
Charity was abandoned by her aunt at age thirteen in another town after both her parents died,
presumably of HIV. All three of her boys are malnourished. She and her children live in an eight foot
square, stick and wattle hut with a dirt floor that turns to mud when the rains come. The rains have
just begun, and their only belongings, a pile of grey, wet rags are heaped in the corner. Charity is being
treated for HIV that she acquired in a gang rape. Fortunately, she is almost well, has found some day
labor and her two older boys are attending Hope Kenya under a “scholarship”.
Bob Finds Charity
Generally, when I work in the developing world I try to teach people how to take care of their own
needs through health education, sanitation, nutrition and self help projects under the “teach a man to
fish...” theory. This time, I justified giving away the two hero’s eighty dollars on the grounds that, one,
it wasn’t really mine and, two, nobody wanted it in the first place. I asked one of the teachers to see
how far she could stretch the money for Charity and her kids.
Close inspection will reveal a new bed, mattress, blanket, mosquito net, two pans, a charcoal brazier
for cooking, a stirring spoon, a big blue plastic tub for washing and Charity’s smile. There was five
dollars left from the two hero's stash. It went for a month’s rent.
Sometimes it’s just better to give fishes. They’ve been said to feed multitudes.
May we all prosper in the coming year and, if you think you might do OK, how about sharing a fish
with the kids at Hope Kenya?
Bjorn
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