Lauren Goes To Africa
Lauren Goes To Africa
Lauren Goes To Africa
Lauren Goes To Africa
Lauren Goes To Africa
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
This campaign is closed
Lauren Goes To Africa
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
Kenya Dig It
THE STORY
Dear Friends,
For those of you who don’t know, I am going to Kenya for 5 months to try to help build a Children's Home (or at least help it get rolling) and I'd like to tell you about how you can help. Back in September took a month leave to visit the Belwop Children’s Home in Nyeri, Kenya. I stayed on-site with the kids and with the director, a widow and fellow believer named Veronica Mumbi, whom I am blessed to call friend.This trip ruined me, in the best way, and now I feel called to help make a difference there and here.
Basically, the verse in James that states that TRUE Religion, the kind that that God accepts as pure and faultless-- HOLY-- is just this: To take care of widows and orphans in their distress... that's it. Then I met a widow who takes care of orphans, whose faith is unlike anything I've ever witnessed, and realized maybe this wasn't an accident? Here was a opportunity for religion to be put into action, for me, and anyone who wants to join. A need for a real home.
That was 4 years ago, and today, we have partnerships starting all over the place to make this dream a reality. Together, through making coffee, and playing music, selling T-shirts and bracelets, we have helped them come out of debt, purchase land, and now we want to move forward. No longer will these amazing kids have to sleep in a rented facility or worry about their next meal. Soon, they will have a place to sleep with colorful walls and comfortable beds and a kitchen full of food
But we have a ways to go.....
THE IMPACT
SO far, through giving of funds from our True Religion Concert series and other fundraisers, we have raised enough to:
1.) buy 1 square acre of Land!
2.) design blue prints
3.) sponsor the kids and send them to school
4.) get started on the preliminary foundation
...and MORE explained in a letter from Veronica (the awesome Widow who runs the Belwop orphanage, my inspiration and friend):
Dear ones,
Because of you, the children can now enjoy an after-school snack, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Because of you, they can eat meat at least two days every week.
Because of you, they can eat fruits as frequently as possible.
Because of you, the children can have butter on their bread.
Because of you, the children can have sausage at least twice a week.
Because of you, they can have ice cream once in a while.
Because of you, the children are always clean and smart, for bathing and washing soaps and detergents are no longer a problem.
Because of you, the children can praise their God with much joy.
HOW TO HELP
I am raising support for the 5 months I will be there to cover costs of building. I already bought my ticket, and have saved up enough to sustain myself, but some of you have expressed a desire to help me financially, and so all the money you give from this point on goes directly to breaking ground on the new Belwop site... By the time I return in December I would like to see PHASE 1 happen, out of the $17k raised SO FAR:
1.) Water line (dug and placed in the ground, connected to the well up the hill)
2.) Electricity hooked up (poles and wires from surrounding
community/ permits acquired)
3.) Wall built (help US media team lead by Kate and Aaron Johnson, coming to break ground in October, 2011)
4.) New Computers, up and running (at the current home)
5.) Foundation laid (wet construction begun)
Once I leave, there are others coming after me to begin PHASE 2. This will lead to the completion of the new home and Veronica's WISH LIST:
Full indoor kitchen
10 Bedrooms (10 kids, 5 bunkbeds per room= 100 kids!)
Washer and Dryer
4 bathrooms
Living room
Study
Staff
a slide!!/ playground
Two 15-passenger vans
Other Ways You Can Help
1.) Prayer. As Veronica would say, "God will do it." Not us....We need all the voices to the Big Guy we can get! Shoot one up right now? :)
2.) Spread the Word. Tell the story, come to the next event!
3.) Project Belwop 2.0: Join a team to help build the new children's home or donate to the building fund (so far we have raised $17k of $100k needed!!) www.ExtremeResponse.Org
4.) Child Sponsorship: Friends of Belwop, Inc. is pleased to announce that our organization has been approved as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity by the IRS. All contributions made after October 27th, 2010 and in the future are fully tax-deductible. www.friendsofbelwop.org
Thank you once again for your generous support of me and this project! I look forward to seeing God do amazing things this year and getting this home built!!