By Rick WillsTRIBUNE-REVIEWThursday, February 7, 2008
Jamie Kendrew thinks opportunity is all that really separates a kid in Cranberry from a kid in the slums of Nairobi.
"Everything about your life is going to be different if you have no school to go to and if you have to walk 10 miles for clean water. All these things we take for granted -- most people don't even have them there," said Kendrew, pastor of student ministries at Grace Community Church in Cranberry, who recently made a trip to Kenya.
Several dozen members of the nondenominational church will follow in Kendrew's steps later this year when they travel to Kenya, where Grace has become a "community partner" of 410Bridge, an Atlanta-based charity that assists with development in communities in the East African country.
Kendrew and the church's pastor, Alan Osterwise, visited Kenya in November.
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"It was the most horrifyingly amazing experience I have had in my life," Kendrew said.
All too often, though, Kenyans -- whom Kendrew found to be "intelligent, gracious and loving" -- face obstacles that are almost insurmountable. Basic education, medical care and even clean water are frequently in scant supply.
As a "community partner," Grace will work in Joska, a slum some 45 minutes from Nairobi.
"The need in Joska is pretty broad. The one basic is the need for clean water. It's critical for anything," Osterwise said.
Joska also needs a medical clinic and, as is the case throughout Kenya, more support for education. While primary school is free in Kenya, school uniforms and school supplies are not, and the cost is enough of a burden that many parents never send their children to school.
Kendrew and Osterwise said political tensions and violence in Kenya are not giving them any seconds thoughts. "It does not change the work we do," Kendrew said.
At least 1,000 people have died and as many as 350,000 people have been driven from their homes in bloody street battles that broke out in recent weeks between supporters of Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
After December elections, Odinga accused Kibaki of rigging the vote, sparking a breakdown in civil order.
"What you see happening is an accumulation of things that have not been addressed in Kenya -- land reform, historical injustice and the gap between the rich and the poor," said Paul Omondi, 410Bridge's Nairobi-based community development officer.
Omondi visited Grace church last weekend. Born in Nairobi's Kibera slum and raised in the Dandora slum, he attended school and college through a sponsorship from a family in Georgia.
"In areas like Joska, people are losing dreams. That is a result of poverty, and poverty should not be killing dreams the way it does," Omondi said.
Omondi said he watched as the dreams of many of his friends died. "I had a good friend who was stoned and burned at age 15 for stealing a radio.That still affects me," he said.
Unlike some relief charities that focus on a single problem, like AIDS or famine, 410Bridge works with one community on a number of problems.
"The church has a responsibility to get involved. People will look back at the tragedy of this time and ask where the church was during all of this," said Ashley Fryar, 410Bridge's marketing director.
About 100 churches have become partners of 410Bridge, which works in five communities in Kenya and hopes to expand that number to nine or 10 by the end of this year.
"Everything about your life is going to be different if you have no school to go to and if you have to walk 10 miles for clean water. All these things we take for granted -- most people don't even have them there," said Kendrew, pastor of student ministries at Grace Community Church in Cranberry, who recently made a trip to Kenya.
Several dozen members of the nondenominational church will follow in Kendrew's steps later this year when they travel to Kenya, where Grace has become a "community partner" of 410Bridge, an Atlanta-based charity that assists with development in communities in the East African country.
Kendrew and the church's pastor, Alan Osterwise, visited Kenya in November.
story continues below
document.write("");
"It was the most horrifyingly amazing experience I have had in my life," Kendrew said.
All too often, though, Kenyans -- whom Kendrew found to be "intelligent, gracious and loving" -- face obstacles that are almost insurmountable. Basic education, medical care and even clean water are frequently in scant supply.
As a "community partner," Grace will work in Joska, a slum some 45 minutes from Nairobi.
"The need in Joska is pretty broad. The one basic is the need for clean water. It's critical for anything," Osterwise said.
Joska also needs a medical clinic and, as is the case throughout Kenya, more support for education. While primary school is free in Kenya, school uniforms and school supplies are not, and the cost is enough of a burden that many parents never send their children to school.
Kendrew and Osterwise said political tensions and violence in Kenya are not giving them any seconds thoughts. "It does not change the work we do," Kendrew said.
At least 1,000 people have died and as many as 350,000 people have been driven from their homes in bloody street battles that broke out in recent weeks between supporters of Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
After December elections, Odinga accused Kibaki of rigging the vote, sparking a breakdown in civil order.
"What you see happening is an accumulation of things that have not been addressed in Kenya -- land reform, historical injustice and the gap between the rich and the poor," said Paul Omondi, 410Bridge's Nairobi-based community development officer.
Omondi visited Grace church last weekend. Born in Nairobi's Kibera slum and raised in the Dandora slum, he attended school and college through a sponsorship from a family in Georgia.
"In areas like Joska, people are losing dreams. That is a result of poverty, and poverty should not be killing dreams the way it does," Omondi said.
Omondi said he watched as the dreams of many of his friends died. "I had a good friend who was stoned and burned at age 15 for stealing a radio.That still affects me," he said.
Unlike some relief charities that focus on a single problem, like AIDS or famine, 410Bridge works with one community on a number of problems.
"The church has a responsibility to get involved. People will look back at the tragedy of this time and ask where the church was during all of this," said Ashley Fryar, 410Bridge's marketing director.
About 100 churches have become partners of 410Bridge, which works in five communities in Kenya and hopes to expand that number to nine or 10 by the end of this year.
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