Life Saving Buckets

Over the last couple of months, the Kenyan administration has been working to partner with an organization called Baptist Global Response (BGR). Last month, CFA was given a grant from BGR to purchase supplies for 100 home-based care kits. CFA staff bought the various supplies for the kits and then assembled them. These kits are buckets that will be given to bed-ridden clients in the program. They contain supplies like towels, Vaseline, bed sheets, pillowcases, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, vitamins and other essential items for the clients to remain hygienic and healthy.

Bed-ridden clients are usually not able to come to the center. They are very weak and sick and often have to remain on their beds or in their homes. They cannot earn an income or even perform basic chores around the home. When someone with HIV is that weak, his or her immune system is very low. They are very susceptible to infection and opportunistic diseases. It is easy for them to contract TB, pneumonia, the common cold, and hundreds of other kinds of bacteria and viruses. Sicknesses that might not affect most of us can be highly dangerous and deadly to bed-ridden clients. The key to helping these clients recover is protecting them from further infection and rebuilding their immune system and strength. That is why the home-based care buckets are so crucial. Beside the usual home visits, spiritual care, and health counseling that the center staff provide, the center staff will now be distributing home-based care buckets to the bed-ridden. The simple things in the bucket like soap and towels can stop a client from getting sick and help keep them alive.

On World AIDS day, I was able to go with several staff to CFA’s center at Kangemi. Near the center, we passed out buckets to five bed-ridden clients who had recently begun the program. While passing out the buckets, we spent time with each person in their home. We talked with them about their lives and family. While passing out one bucket to a man named Morrice in the Kangemi slums, we got into a conversation about faith. We asked about his belief in God. Morrice admitted that he was not saved, but wanted to know Christ. Right then and there, Spiritual Counselor David shared the Gospel and prayed with Morrice to receive Christ. In that moment, in his small home in the slum, Morrice was welcomed into the family of God. It was one of the most powerful moments I have experienced in Kenya. It was beautiful to see God move so powerfully and visibly in that place. It is proof that God can use anything, even a bucket and the simple gesture of someone caring, to bring people to know Him.

Christmas Wish List

Because of your support this year, we look forward to providing life-transforming and soul-saving care to over 1,000 families during 2012!

Therefore, during this Christmas season, we’re asking you to consider making a gift, either in your name or on behalf of a loved one, to help us fulfill some organizational needs. By helping us defray some of the costs of doing ministry, we can devote more resources to providing more and better care. A gift of any amount towards these needs is appreciated. We will send you more information on the wish that you help us fulfill.

Below are five organizational needs for the coming year. We ask that you consider supporting one or more of these needs by giving online or mailing a check to 185 Pebble Beach Dr; Fayetteville, GA 30215.  We’ve given you the option to give this gift in honor of someone else, in which case we will send a postcard to the recipient you designate. Leave these sections blank if you wish to make a personal contribution to one of these needs.

1.  Kenyan Staff Sponsorship:  Our centers couldn’t operate without the leadership and accountability provided by our Regional Coordinators, Kenyan Directors, and Empowerment Coordinator.  We would love to connect you personally with one of these passionate, committed individuals as you help us provide them with a salary and benefits.  If you’d like, you can see each individual Kenyan team member here and choose a specific person to designate your gift toward.  (Please choose from Duncan, Cornel, Robert, Geofrey, or Francis)  Total need:  4 Coordinators at $4,000 each and 2 Directors at $10,000 each

2.  Transport for Caleb:  Our African Operations Director, Caleb Davison, is in need of a reliable, safe vehicle.  His current truck is on its last leg, and we would love to replace it!  Total need: $3,000  (this need has been met!  Thanks everyone!)

3.  Textbook Drive Sponsorship:  On this side of the Atlantic, we are offering a chance for college students to engage with CARE for AIDS by donating textbooks, which we sell to support Kenyan operations.  Sponsorship of your alma mater or any other school will allow us to equip an intern to host a textbook drive that will produce, on average, over 2.5 times your investment.  If you’d like, you can see our current schools on the map here and choose a specific campus to designate your gift toward.  Total need:  Unlimited campuses at $1,000 each

4.  Flights to Kenya:  When you American leadership travels to Kenya, an opportunity is created to both encourage the Kenyan team and re-inspire the US team.  We would love to send Justin and Nick to Kenya in 2012, and your gift of finances or frequent flyer miles can make that happen!  Total need:  3 Tickets at $1,500 each or frequent flier mile equivalent

5.  Church Appreciation Projects:  We are so thankful for the churches God has allowed us to partner with in Kenya.  This year, we would like to expand our relationship with each church by identifying a project at the church and matching the church’s fundraising efforts.  Potential projects include installing clean water systems, building classrooms or toilets, and purchasing chairs.  Total need:  10 Churches at $500 each

You can give by credit card here: Grant Our Christmas Wish

On behalf of the CARE for AIDS team in Kenya and the US, thank you for making our Christmas Wish List a reality!

Did you know? #2: Orphans

(This entry is the second in a series of posts in which I will try to pass on some of the unexpected truths that I learned while in Kenya. If you learn something, please leave a comment and let us know!)

Did you know that fully 50% of the 2.4 million orphans in Kenya are left without a parent as a direct result of HIV/AIDS?

Even if a child with HIV-positive parents escapes mother-to-child HIV transmission (see last post), odds are they will end up as orphans well before their tenth birthday.¹  This leaves them under the care of struggling relatives or overburdened orphanages, if they are fortunate enough to find one of these alternatives to life on the street.

It’s incredibly important to care for these orphans. They need our assistance, our sponsorship, and our resources. I believe, though, that our responsibility doesn’t end with caring for the orphans of today – we have the opportunity to provide for the orphans of tomorrow. What if we could go back and keep the parents of these 1.2 million AIDS orphans alive? What if those parents could live for 20, 25, 30 years and provide for their children themselves? What if all the resources currently going to orphanages could go to economic empowerment, disaster relief, education, or a thousand other needs?

This could be the reality of the next generation of children. All of us at CARE for AIDS believe that the best place for a child to grow up is in their own home, raised by their own parents. People ask all the time why we don’t work with children – the answer is that we are working FOR the children, by empowering their parents to raise them in a safe, Christian, economically-viable home.

I’m not trying to tell you to cancel your child sponsorship! That child needs you. I’m telling you that there is another side to the issue. You can also help the parents of other children – 4.9 children, on average – and keep the kids being born today from needing a child sponsor down the road. That’s our vision, and we’d love you to be a part of it!