Sr. Mary Owens Newsletter
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Dear Friends of Nyumbani,
Even though our celebration of Christ’s coming into the world this year is tinged with loss and sadness following the sudden passing-on of our Founder, Fr. Angelo D’Agostino, all of us in Nyumbani still want to communicate with you at this time to share in spirit and prayer the hope and love of the Incarnation. May God’s love for us manifested so unconditionally in Christ becoming human to redeem us fill our hearts this Christmas with even deeper compassion. May this compassion of Christ urge us on further to reach out to the marginalized in our world especially, for us, the Nyumbani Family, to reach out to the HIV infected and affected abandoned child so that we can bring Fr. D’Ag’s mission to even greater fulfillment.
I have just returned from the States where I had the privilege of being present at the beautiful and moving Memorials for Fr. D’Ag in Washington and Providence. I was delighted to have the opportunity as well to meet so many of Fr. D’Ag’s circle of friends, and returned considerably strengthened by the spontaneous pledges of continued support for our mission. This I have communicated to our children, staff and will communicate to our Board of Directors which message I believe will help lift our hearts.
The day after my return, 19th December, our 1,500 of our children from Nyumbani Home, Lea Toto and the first two Nyumbani Village families of 19 children and two grandparents gathered for a Christmas Party at Waterworld, a fun park where the children enjoyed watersport of many kinds, bouncing castles, camel riding, face-painting, fun entertainment, disco dancing and a sumptuous lunch, thanks to many donors, local and abroad. The surprise of the day, however, was the arrival of a special letter and a vehicle full of foodstuffs for the children from the First Lady, Mama Lucy Kibaki. She had wanted to join us for the event, but was unable. She promised to visit early in 2007.
Bookmark :
Dear Friends of Nyumbani,
Even though our celebration of Christ’s coming into the world this year is tinged with loss and sadness following the sudden passing-on of our Founder, Fr. Angelo D’Agostino, all of us in Nyumbani still want to communicate with you at this time to share in spirit and prayer the hope and love of the Incarnation. May God’s love for us manifested so unconditionally in Christ becoming human to redeem us fill our hearts this Christmas with even deeper compassion. May this compassion of Christ urge us on further to reach out to the marginalized in our world especially, for us, the Nyumbani Family, to reach out to the HIV infected and affected abandoned child so that we can bring Fr. D’Ag’s mission to even greater fulfillment.
I have just returned from the States where I had the privilege of being present at the beautiful and moving Memorials for Fr. D’Ag in Washington and Providence. I was delighted to have the opportunity as well to meet so many of Fr. D’Ag’s circle of friends, and returned considerably strengthened by the spontaneous pledges of continued support for our mission. This I have communicated to our children, staff and will communicate to our Board of Directors which message I believe will help lift our hearts.
The day after my return, 19th December, our 1,500 of our children from Nyumbani Home, Lea Toto and the first two Nyumbani Village families of 19 children and two grandparents gathered for a Christmas Party at Waterworld, a fun park where the children enjoyed watersport of many kinds, bouncing castles, camel riding, face-painting, fun entertainment, disco dancing and a sumptuous lunch, thanks to many donors, local and abroad. The surprise of the day, however, was the arrival of a special letter and a vehicle full of foodstuffs for the children from the First Lady, Mama Lucy Kibaki. She had wanted to join us for the event, but was unable. She promised to visit early in 2007.
For our children in the Lea Toto Program who live in sub-human conditions this Christmas Party is a treat they rarely, if ever experience. I rejoice to tell you, since we finally got free Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) for our Lea Toto children last year, they are much more healthy and happy and are now dreaming of a future. Numbers in Lea Toto grow astronomically, about 100 per month, a sad indication that Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission is still a great challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa.
On December 22, our first group of teenagers will move into their new homes, built for us through funds raised by our Irish Nyumbani. This move marks a new stage into the growing into independence of these young people, a goal that seemed impossible when we first began Nyumbani in 1992. The majority of these are now at Secondary School level. Our oldest has completed Secondary School and is holding a job over the holidays. He will proceed to third level education early in 2007 and the goal of his moving into self-reliance in the outside community is now on the horizon.
It is all exciting challenges ahead in Nyumbani Village as we settle the first families into their new home, with many other families about to join them. Our Village school, Hotcourses Primary School, built for us by the UK Hotcourses Foundation, will open in January with a Nursery Class and Standard 1 composed of Nyumbani Village children and some from the neighboring community. Those in other primary level classes will attend the local primary school until we have enough funds to start other classes, while we have three who will go to Secondary School. We are still in the process of opening Nyumbani Village Clinic, but have now engaged a nurse as a first step. We are excitedly looking forward to a bumper harvest from our organic farm as we had unprecedented rains in October-November. This is a source of great hope for us as the Nyumbani Village sustainability project is very much in the early stages. Our latest venture in farming has been the planting of 15 acres of Jatropha, thanks to the generosity of our Nyumbani-USA Board which we will harvest to produce biofuel. Our aim is to have our vehicles and machines run on biofuel after about two years!
The other exciting new sustainability ventures are the start-up of an essential oil factory and the installation of a set of ten woodwork machines in our polytechnic, thanks to a generous Italian donor, helped by Nyumbani Italy, who came over personally to set up the system.
Our sights are set on completing the building of the Village in the next year or so. We still have 58 family houses to construct – a few have already been funded at the cost of $10,000 each - an Administration Block, some staff houses, Resource Centre, Workshop Hall and more units for the Polytechnic. In addition we are lobbying to get the main water supply connected to the Village as well as get electricity installed. We are confident that as Fr. D’Ag gave us the lead, doors will open under God’s Provident guidance and that the final dream of Fr. D’Ag’s physical life on earth will be realized.
In conclusion, on behalf of our Kenyan Board of Directors, our Staff and especially our more than 2,500 children, I would like to express once more our heartfelt gratitude to each one of you for your support which is vital in ensuring the continuing of our mission. Our especial gratitude goes to our Boards in USA, UK, Italy and Ireland whose commitment to raising funds for us, under the dedicated leadership of their Chairpersons, continues to surprise us and makes possible, under God’s Providence, our continuing our mission.
May Christ make a difference in you and your families’ lives this Christmas and fill your hearts with a joy and peace that no one can take from you.
Sr. Mary Owens, IBVM Executive Director, Nyumbani
On December 22, our first group of teenagers will move into their new homes, built for us through funds raised by our Irish Nyumbani. This move marks a new stage into the growing into independence of these young people, a goal that seemed impossible when we first began Nyumbani in 1992. The majority of these are now at Secondary School level. Our oldest has completed Secondary School and is holding a job over the holidays. He will proceed to third level education early in 2007 and the goal of his moving into self-reliance in the outside community is now on the horizon.
It is all exciting challenges ahead in Nyumbani Village as we settle the first families into their new home, with many other families about to join them. Our Village school, Hotcourses Primary School, built for us by the UK Hotcourses Foundation, will open in January with a Nursery Class and Standard 1 composed of Nyumbani Village children and some from the neighboring community. Those in other primary level classes will attend the local primary school until we have enough funds to start other classes, while we have three who will go to Secondary School. We are still in the process of opening Nyumbani Village Clinic, but have now engaged a nurse as a first step. We are excitedly looking forward to a bumper harvest from our organic farm as we had unprecedented rains in October-November. This is a source of great hope for us as the Nyumbani Village sustainability project is very much in the early stages. Our latest venture in farming has been the planting of 15 acres of Jatropha, thanks to the generosity of our Nyumbani-USA Board which we will harvest to produce biofuel. Our aim is to have our vehicles and machines run on biofuel after about two years!
The other exciting new sustainability ventures are the start-up of an essential oil factory and the installation of a set of ten woodwork machines in our polytechnic, thanks to a generous Italian donor, helped by Nyumbani Italy, who came over personally to set up the system.
Our sights are set on completing the building of the Village in the next year or so. We still have 58 family houses to construct – a few have already been funded at the cost of $10,000 each - an Administration Block, some staff houses, Resource Centre, Workshop Hall and more units for the Polytechnic. In addition we are lobbying to get the main water supply connected to the Village as well as get electricity installed. We are confident that as Fr. D’Ag gave us the lead, doors will open under God’s Provident guidance and that the final dream of Fr. D’Ag’s physical life on earth will be realized.
In conclusion, on behalf of our Kenyan Board of Directors, our Staff and especially our more than 2,500 children, I would like to express once more our heartfelt gratitude to each one of you for your support which is vital in ensuring the continuing of our mission. Our especial gratitude goes to our Boards in USA, UK, Italy and Ireland whose commitment to raising funds for us, under the dedicated leadership of their Chairpersons, continues to surprise us and makes possible, under God’s Providence, our continuing our mission.
May Christ make a difference in you and your families’ lives this Christmas and fill your hearts with a joy and peace that no one can take from you.
Sr. Mary Owens, IBVM Executive Director, Nyumbani
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