Growth happens all around us, and if we're lucky and intentional about it, we can seek out ways to be a part of it, too.
Our Illinois Women in Leadership (IWIL) group partnered with the Outreach Foundation in Kikuyu, Kenya, which in turn partners with PCEA (Presbyterian Church of East Africa) to build infrastructure there. With your donations added to more from around the world, the Outreach Foundation builds churches, schools, and hospitals. They employ Kenyan workers for every step of the building process, and they are gracious enough to let donors like us participate in some of the more cosmetic tasks when we arrive for a visit.
Stu Ross, the Outreach volunteer living in Kikuyu for the last 27 years, organized projects for us that correlated with our interests as an all-female leadership organization.
Our first stop was a girls' rescue center about an hour and a half drive from Kikuyu into Maasai tribal land. The rescue center serves as a safe haven for girls, between the ages of 7 and 14 by my observations, who are in danger of forced childhood marriage and/or female genital mutilation (FGM). Some girls are brought to the center by their mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, or neighbors; others walk on their own to seek safety there. They are then adopted in the rescue center's community, boarding there while taking classes at the local primary school (also built by Outreach). The rescue center began with a few families nearby taking girls in this situation in, but the need became too great for a few households to welcome them all. Thus the rescue center was born -- and they've been helping hundreds of young girls ever since.
Upon arriving at the center, we met Beatrice, the dorm mother who lives on-site with 97 girls and raises them as her own, as well as Samson, the chair of the school.
After living and studying with the rescue center community for three months, the girl is always accompanied home over the school break by the principal, dorm mother, pastor, Maasai chief, and Stu. Together they reconcile the girl with her family and her tribe, ensuring she isn't exiled from her community, and educate the family and tribe on why both childhood marriage and FGM are illegal. While Beatrice and Samson gave us a tour of the dormitories, lined with bunk beds and trunks filled with school uniforms, they both repeatedly said, "We teach the girls their rights. Their rights are human rights." They do not take their job of bringing positive change to each individual and to the Kenyan community lightly. Beatrice added, "We build their confidence to be leaders in our world. We teach them that their no's mean no, and their yeses mean yes." On the wall of each dorm, a beautiful tapestry read, "You are beautiful."
Your generous donations built a new classroom building and filled it with tables, and chairs for the girls at the rescue center to use while they study. Eventually, it will also serve as a classroom for preschool-aged children who reside at the rescue center, many of whom are orphans.
For two days, our job was to help with the finishing touches of the building so that we might feel connected to the structure beyond the finances that built it. We were the first all-female service team to work with Stu in his entire time in Kenya -- and it didn't go unnoticed. When Samson met us at the building, his first comment was, "But there is no balance in the genders in your team." We assured him we were able to rise to the tasks! Along with laborers hired by Stu and from the nearby village, we painted the metal doors and window frames and drilled tin sheets around the building as exterior walls. It was good to work alongside our Kenyan friends as they told us about life there. Later on, we were careful in our reflections to realize they did not need our team to finish that work on the building for them; in fact, Samson said they postponed the last steps and dedication so that we could be there with them. Instead, they generously allowed us to be a part of the building process as we build our relationships with the community there as well.
Nearby community members, including the chair of the church, prepared delicious lunches for us -- naan bread, rice, chicken with seasoning and peppers and tomatoes, watermelon, and beans. Before leaving each day, we were able to talk with some of the girls, too, and my teacher-heart just overflowed with joy. I asked them what they like to study and what they want to do after high school. Their eyes lit up as they shared their passions and their dreams, and I was so blessed to share my enthusiasm with them. They wrapped up our days by singing to us, and my heart sang right along with them.
