 |
Mark Orman and Bishop Francis Kamau, co-founders of this project, met in 2001 in Kenya, while Mark was on a trip there with his physician friend.
He was alarmed at the overwhelming poverty in many areas and thought there must be something he could do to help. It was with this idea that Mark and Francis began their mission of helping Kenya’s poorest be fed, clothed and educated. |
|
|
Bishop Kamau , who was born and raised in Kenya, achieved a higher education here in the United States while attending Fullerton Seminary in Pasadena, California.
In an unusual move, he returned to Kenya in an effort to help those in need. With his background in Leadership and training others to become future leaders, he set about helping others by starting churches in various communities.
In about 1997, Cornerstone Church was created in Nguirubi. Mark liked the idea of building in the Nguirubi Valley because of the hope he felt in the area. |
While some other places in Kenya were full of slums, the feeling in the valley was one of promise for the future. There was an abundance of children and although they were very poor, they were relatively clean.
It was here, in the Nguirubi Valley that four to five acres of land was purchased and the church was built. It was dedicated in August of 2003.
|
|
|
Initially the church was a meeting place for the community but quickly expanded to meet the needs of its followers that included not only church services but an agricultural program and teaching area.
The agricultural program teaches Kenyan’s better farming techniques including crop selection, rotation and economic development. Building on each others experiences, they learn what works best for them at different times of the year. |
| The families also learn how to attain nourishment and an income by raising goats. Typically, they will be given a female goat that can be mated with the Chief’s male goat. Not only have the benefit of receiving milk from the goat to drink and sell, eventually they are able to give a kid (a baby goat) back to the program to help another family achieve the same thing. The male goats are eventually rotated to give the area a mix of genes and insure proper growth into the future. |
|
|
In the future, this program will be expanded to include a micro-load program that will help establish other forms of business such as carpentry, sewing, and additional agricultural professions.
Additionally, it is planned to include vaccinations, school uniforms and additional children over the 30 they are now able to accommodate. An orphanage will be added on an additional 5 to 7 acres where 18-30 children will live. |
Further, because of the massive AIDS epidemic in the area, it is crucial to educate the residents on how to prevent this disease from spreading further.
Cornerstone Church is currently divided into different rooms including meeting areas, a kitchen and an area to educate the local children.
Families that enter this program are hand picked by the Chief. They are all very local as there is no transportation and everyone walks where they need to go. |
|
|
By attending the school, the children benefit not only from learning, but by getting 1 to 2 meals a day that they might not receive without the school providing it for them.
The ultimate goal of KenyaCare.org is to raise the economics of the area to become self sufficient and not dependant. This can be accomplished by training future leaders to continue the same course and use this method to expand into an ever larger area, even beyond the valley where they now live. |
|
