Week of Others

You might be thinking….enough about Kenya and HIV/AIDS and TB and Malaria and poverty in the slums of Kibera. Let’s get back to the leadership/inspirational/get-me-going content I’ve come to expect in my Weekly ReFill. I mean, after all, it is MYWeekly ReFill.

Or you might be just developing a hunger to hear more and you’re disappointed that I’m already back.

Maybe you missed last week’s blog and didn’t really know I was in Kenya with ONE.

It could be that you just got annoyed at all the Weekly ReFills in your inbox and you deleted them all without reading them.

Smile. This is the final blog in the series.

Last Friday ONEMoms spent the day with farmers in Nakuru. They’ve formed a kind of a cooperative where they exchange expertise, pool and save their money and improve their crops to improve and address the issue of malnutrition. Such efforts are vital not only for survival of the families of Kenya, but also to prepare for the inevitable cycle of drought and famine such as Somalia is currently facing.

We toured their farms (shambas), enjoyed a sampling of their many varieties of Irish potatoes and learned how they get their produce to individual sellers such as those on the streets of Kisumu.

Their work ethic is stunning. Their joy and empowerment at their success is contagious. Their eagerness to grow and learn and do more motivates me to do more too.

One woman, in her eighties, pierced me through to the soul with the strength of her eyes. I prayed to bring it home with me as my chief souvenir.

There are more still in my suitcase as I write (I haven’t unpacked): Hope for change in Kenya and all of sub-saharan Africa. Respect for the hard-working souls that do their work day after day. Love for moms who are doing their best to care for and train their children for a future. Prayer for God to nudge me as to what more he might want me to do.

As I’ve asked all along in this series, will you join me? I want to ask you to do three things. They are simple. Please?

• If you haven’t read the Kenya Weekly ReFillSeries, please go tohttp://fullfillmagazine.blogspot.com/ and read it? Complete the simple Daily Action Points at the end of each blog?
• Watch the ABC Nightly News for a story about our trip and tell others to watch? (Currently scheduled to air on August 8, 2011)
• Join ONEMoms at http://www.one.org/us/actnow/moms/

Kenya is a deeply spiritual place. The people there know God and love him. My heart yearns for more Christians to become involved in the non-partisan advocacy work of ONE as it partners with those working on the ground such as The Center for Disease Control, USAID, Feed the Hungry and more. They don’t want your money. They want your voice. Yet another reason why ONE is such a good fit with FullFill™.

If I know anything, I know women want to use their voices!

Will you use yours? http://www.one.org/us/actnow/moms/