Desert Stream Ministries (Kenya)

 

In 2021, the Desert Streams Ministries project continued to make bold efforts to ensure that the project did not go dormant. However, as COVID-19 drags on and its variants continue to emerge, the situation is threatening to become untenable. Coping with the “food kitchen” for the destitute, which is the major undertaking of DSM, is becoming next to impossible as all those involved in the project (including the board of directors) are average rural villagers – most of them living in poverty. Yet, despite all this, they continue to find ways of individually contributing money towards the project as they are not able to organize public harambee events (fundraisers) due to the restrictions resulting from COVID-19. To make matters worse, many of the children that are supported by the project have had little schooling, if any at all, for nearly years now, as they have no access to virtual learning. On top of poverty, the people in this part of rural Kenya have no electricity. Some of them have to make long journeys daily to draw water and fetch firewood. So, as you can imagine, none of the kids who live in these parts has ever touched a computer. Most probably, many of them have never even seen one!

The above brief update demonstrates how desperate DSM is for financial assistance, which they cannot get from the government. A donation from UWAO would, therefore, be a life-saver – literally. This said, the executive board that runs the project would like to express gratitude to UWAO for their last donation, which saved the project from collapsing altogether. In the words of Pastor Kῖai, the chair of the board, UWAO’s last donation had “brought light and hope to a place where darkness had swallowed dawn.”

As the sponsor of the DSM project, I can share that this situation has been so heart-breaking that Sister Mũmbi, my daughter, and I have had to send our own money to try and avert the crisis. We look forward to UWAO being able to fundraise soon, hoping that DSM will be on the list of the projects funded. Deep gratitude to all our UWAO donors for bringing “light and hope to a place where darkness had swallowed dawn.”

Mῖcere Gῖthae Mũgo,

UWAO Sponsor of Desert Streams Ministries Project.