After
returning from Kenya the 18th of October, I spent a month blogging
about that trip, and have been sporadic and wandering aimlessly on this blog
ever since. I decided it was time to get back on a schedule and bring back my
focus. Which means that today is the first Tumaini Tuesday. (How corny, right?)
My
plan is to spend just one night a week writing about Africa and promoting our
nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers. Even though I have so much to say on those
topics, if I continue to share it all at one time, I may not only run out of
material, I may bore you and lose your interest, if I haven’t already.
First,
in case you have just stumbled upon this blog, or if you are a faithful reader
who has forgotten some of what I ramble about, “tumaini” means hope in
Swahili, the national language of Kenya. My daughter, Val, came up with the
name after spending three months in Kenya in 2013 researching the logistics of
starting her own nonprofit organization to bring hope to those living in dire
situations.
It
has been so much work and I cannot believe the hours she has spent on this. But
this is where her passion lies and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I also
never thought she would be hounding me this hard to keep up my end of the
organization. I try not to let her down.
The
mission of Tumaini Volunteers is to assist developing communities in Kenya to
thrive by providing sustainable projects to help make them self-sufficient. We
hope to achieve this by taking groups of volunteers to Kenya to implement these
projects. In Val’s own words, many charities throw money at the problem instead
of getting on the ground and really making a difference. It is like the story
of giving a man a fish and you feed him for one day, or teach him to fish and
you feed him for life. Right? The thing to know about that story is that many
Kenyans don’t like fish. Which is why we have to do our research.
I
hope this has helped you understand a little more about us. Come back next
Tuesday to learn more about how we plan to get these projects going, or maybe I
will just share a new story from previous trips. You never know where I will
take you next.
2 comments:
Yowza, guess I have to keep my end up also. I have made a new binder, sorry Chris but that blue thingy did not work for me. My next goal is to make a folder on a flash drive, develop a minutes template and get ready to dive in head first. Hopefully we have many years working together, improving lives in beautiful Kenya.
Thanks, Denise, for your commitment. I can't wait to get rolling on all the things we have planned.
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