One Drop Of Hope

2010-11-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

One Drop Of Hope Umoja is a Vancouver Island based initiative supporting projects in Kenya.

It was founded by Julie Canning and Tanya Harmon. Julie lived in Nairobi Kenya from January of 2009 until May 2009, and spent her time there as a volunteer with Maji Mazuri. For more information on the project please visit http://www.majimazuri.org/

Tanya and her husband Terry visited Kakamega in Western Kenya from January to February 2009. They connected with Kasfooc (Kakamega supporting families of orpahaned children), and Kenya Education Endowment Fund.

In an effort to help support the projects that are so close to these women's hearts, One Drop of Hope was born. If you'd like to donate please contact Julie at (tel) 250.650.5853 (email) juliebcanning[at]hotmail[dot]com

Drops and Drips of Hope

2010-11-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

In November and December of 2009, we were invited to be vendors at Fiesta, Courtenay's annual Fair Trade Show, and Campbell River's Christmas Fair. In addition, we also attended Valleyview's (a local school) parent-teacher interview evenings and their Christmas concert. We were selling our Drops of Hope, that people enthusiastically purchased as Christmas tree ornaments, gifts, and window decorations. We also had for sale some local brass Kenyan Jewelry.

In 2010 we attended the same fairs, and in addition to the jewelry and Drops of Hope, we added Drips of Hope. They are a smaller version of the Drops, and can can be worn as a necklace, adorn a window, decorate lamps, or hung in your car mirror as a 'carma' pendant. All of our products go to support ground level projects in Kenya. They are locally handmade in Campbell River BC By Aileen Park, who so graciously donated 200 drops for our cause. Thank-you Aileen!

They are $10 each or 3 for $25 and you can purchase them by contacting Julie or Tanya. 100% of these sales is going to Kenya. They were also sold at various locations in town. Zen Health Haven, Warriors Realm, Dr. David Audia and Dr. Rick Cockwell chiropractic office, and Retroactive clothing store. Thank-you to Keli, David, and Cheryl for allowing them to be sold in your places of business!

Please email Julie or Tanya for Aileen's contact if you are interested in any of her beautiful glass creations

The Power of One

2010-11-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

In January of 2009, I went to live in Nairobi, Kenya, where I volunteered with an organization called Maji Mazuri. The director of the project, Wanjiku Kironyo, has spent the last 25 years of her life developing the many entities of this project. The impact of her work has touched so many lives. She is without a doubt the most inspiring person I have ever had the humble privilege of knowing.

The children’s center emerged because of one small orphaned boy named Nicholas. After riots and fires devastated the Mathare slum in the heart of Nairobi, Wanjiku learned that one of her micro-finance business members had a child who burned to death inside their shanty (a shanty is a very small tin shed where an entire family lives). Wanjiku questioned why this child was at home during the middle of the day when the fire started, and why she was alone. The child was disabled, and therefore not allowed to attend the local school. As a result of her condition, she was tied to the bed during the day while her mother was out working. So many parents live in such desperation in order to earn enough money to feed their children that they unintentionally neglect them to do so.

Wanjiku had an existing women’s emergency shelter which was already overcrowded, but she immediately started housing children with an array of physical and mental disabilities, as well as orphaned and HIV positive children. Realizing that these cases are often disregarded by society, because they are viewed as having no hope she provided them with a loving, safe environment. Nobody wanted to invest the time or money into educating these children, as they were viewed as lost causes. She pleaded with teachers and schools to help, and was always told the same thing - that these children couldn’t learn, couldn’t speak, couldn’t walk, and therefore couldn’t receive an education.

One rainy morning, she packed them all into the back of a borrowed truck, and drove them to a school where she personally knew the headmaster. She wanted to enroll them in his school so they would have an equal chance at an education. It was her intention to have this man just meet the children in hopes that they would enter his heart like they did hers. She bundled them in sweaters and blankets, secured a tarp over them all, and drove them soaked and shivering to the school. The headmaster refused to school any ‘unable’ child and asked her to leave. She had to beg him to come outside into the cold, saying that because she had told the children they were going somewhere, she couldn’t just drive them back to the shelter and not have them even see out from under the tarp. He agreed to come and say hello, but only so they wouldn’t think they were just riding around in circles in the back of a truck in the rain.

Less than impressed at Wanjiku for wasting his time, he regarded all the sweet little faces staring back at him. Nicholas, 5 years old, with severely crippled legs tucked under him, extended his arm out from under a blanket to shake the hand of the headmaster. This boy could speak (rather politely at that), hold eye contact, and had seemingly normal intelligence. Above all that, he had something that softened the headmaster’s refusal. He turned to Wanjiku and said “I have space for 5 only, have them here in uniform on Monday morning.” She had no idea how she would locate the funds but said she had them.
I still don’t know how or where she found the money, but Nicholas was enrolled in first grade that following Monday.

The same hands that shook the headmaster’s and ultimately got Nicholas into school, are the hands he uses to walk with, dragging his legs behind him. His disability was never one of mental competence and he excelled at school. Every year he at the top of his class. In Kenya, at the end of primary school (grade 8), there is an examination which determines if the student can continue studies in secondary school (grades 9-12). The exam costs $25 and many children, despite having the grades, don’t have the funds to write it, and therefore never go on to high school. Nicholas received the highest mark, not only in his school, but in the entire district! He excelled in grades 9 through 12, and then went on to university.

He graduated with a degree in computer science just one month before I had the opportunity to shake his hand. Now in his twenties, his home is still at the shelter where he acts as a big brother to the other orphans. He is the first orphaned child to have grown up in Maji Mazuri and to receive a full education.

He is one of many, but he is solely the one who made the story of Maji Mazuri Children’s Center one to write about.

I can’t remember which story I heard first, Nicholas’s or Wanjiku’s, but they are both stories of just one person. When Wanjiku was young, she was sent to public primary school funded by the government. She and her sister had to share a uniform because her parents could only afford one. This meant each girl only went to school for half a day, and then returned home so the other could wear the uniform and attend class for the other half. Every evening they taught one another what the other had learned. Secondary education was not in her parent’s budget, so she would (like many girls in Kenya) be a ‘house girl’ until she got married, then would have a family and stay on the farm.

In her last year an American couple visited her school, and whatever affect Nicholas had on the headmaster, Wanjiku had on this couple. When they returned home, they contacted the school and informed them they would like to sponsor her education so she could continue her studies. She moved to the U.S. to study social work and business.

It is because one couple saw something in one teenage girl, that she was able to receive her degree.

It is this one woman who has touched, transformed, and saved the lives of hundreds. I only wish that in reading this you get a glimpse of what a blessing she has been to so many. One by one, she created another entity to the Maji Mazuri project. Today it consists of an emergency shelter, an orphanage, 6 schools, a micro-finance program, a teens’ group, a youth group, farming, and a tree-planting project on Masai land. All of these exist within a non-governmental organization (NGO) and rely solely on donations. Within every one of these umbrella projects are smaller initiatives that make them mostly self-sustainable. (e.g. the farm sells eggs and milk in town for money to feed the school children; the orphanage leases a rotary-donated grinder out to the local community to make grains into flour, in exchange for food for the children; the rent money the emergency shelter raises by renting out space for soap and dressmaking, is used for school fees; the bore hole for the well on the farm fills the water troughs for the Masai cattle to drink - without it the cattle would have perished in this latest drought). It all takes place at a grass roots level, but the social, economic, and spiritual success of the communities they reside in is not only obvious, but incredible. Her efforts have resulted in loving homes for abandoned, orphaned, disabled, abused, and homeless children. If just one of them can be an inspiration to someone else in this life, Wanjiku’s dream continues.

I think of all the mornings I entered the orphanage, and how the children instantly planted themselves in my heart in the same way Nicholas entered the headmaster’s heart, and Wanjiku the American couple’s heart. There were 64 beautiful children with never-ending hugs, smiles, songs, and laughter. I wonder who they will be as adults. If one-by-one these children are guided and supported, the ability for success is within each and every one of them.

After typing this entry into my journal in April of 2009, I met a group of 5 Canadians who have been involved with Wanjiku and her efforts since 1988. They shared their stories of visiting the projects regularly over the years and the growth they have witnessed. One year they were joined by a young man from their church named Jonathan. He couldn’t afford much but saved and saved to be able to join them in Kenya to observe what his church had funded. Following his short tour of Kenya, he had thirty dollars left. En route to the airport, Jonathon handed Wanjiku twenty five dollars and said he only needed five dollars to buy himself lunch on his layover back to Canada. He knew it wasn’t much but it was all he had, and he wanted the project to have it. Wanjiku made a slight detour on the way to the airport where she entered a building with the twenty five dollars, quickly went in and out, but didn’t offer an explanation. Jonathan and the church later learned, when a thank-you letter arrived from Nicholas, that Wanjiku had used the money to pay the twenty five dollar examination fee. This was the exam he scored highest in the district on. If he had not written that exam, his schooling would have been terminated at the end of grade eight.

You know that feeling just before the goose bumps appear when a story touches you? That feeling just before the tears well up in your eyes when you cry tears of joy? That feeling that warms your heart when you catch a smile from the love of your life? It was the feeling I experienced every time I heard the stories of these beautiful children and the hope that Maji Mazuri has brought to them. I met children and adults who are smiling a little more today because of an opportunity Maji Mazuri has blessed them with. I listened to visions of their futures, and heard wisdom they are empowering each other with. That feeling tingles all through me, and I felt it every day when I looked into the eyes of those children.

Somebody asked me before I left for Kenya if I thought I was going to save Africa: that they were so devastated as a nation they were beyond the Western world’s efforts. It is this one individual’s mentality that will make them personally incapable of any degree of change. A huge part of my life, whether academically, professionally, or socially, has been focused on the big picture. The focus is on 10 years from now, or ‘when this or that happens, then I can…’, or the corporation as a massive, impenetrable giant. While in Kenya I was introduced, one by one, to talented, influential and incredible people. They taught me so much in such little time, and it was invaluable. Forget about the big picture. Any action, any decision, or any effort is easy. It’s attainable and only requires passion. One drop of hope is possible for today. It may inspire one other being, and that is significant.

With every memory of Kenya I am reminded how blessed I was to have had the courage to follow my heart. It was a journey of extreme emotion for me. I am grateful, I am humbled, and I am forever holding the people and the experiences dear to my heart.

Yoga and Life Coaching Fund Raisers

2009-11-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

On December 31st 2009 Sheron Jutila hosted her annual New Year's Eve Yin Yoga and Meditation. The evening was held at Rosewall Yoga Studio and was by donation, all funds raised she generously donated to One Drop of Hope. It was well attended, and was a beautiful group of people who welcomed the New Year in silence. Namaste Sheron.

On Saturday March 20th 2010 Women With Wings presented See Jane Fly, an energizing full day celebration for women of all ages. Dynamic speakers shared their expertise on creating space, wealth, freedom and power. All attendees enjoyed engaging workshops, music, meditation, movement and more at the Women’s Expo.

On Sunday October 31st 2010, life coaches Cheryl Levine, Mary Crowley, and Colette Volkman did 15 minute speed coaching sessions. Coaching helps to clear thoughts, challenges, and burdens that are weighing you down, set short term goals, or create feelings of being grounded and more peaceful. All proceeds were donated to One Drop of Hope to fund micro-enterprise and youth business training, as well as expand existing efforts for clean water and education. Thank-you ladies, it was a great day!

“Coaching is a thinking partnership, intended to elicit the best expression of your self. Life coaches work with their clients to support them to achieve their dreams, make appropriate career and life choices and create the life that they always wanted." ~Cheryl Levine~

Fundraising Dollars

2009-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Throughout 2010, One Drop of Hope raised $5700. The money was sent to KASFOOC for an almost-self-sustained fish farm, KEEF which sponsored our child Anthony from last year, Maji Mazuri Emergency Shelter and Childrens center which sponsored 2 more children (including John pictured in this post), and Tembo Kenya which will build another spring in western rural Kenya. Big thanks again to everybody who supported our cause. Together we are bringing about change for the better, and making a difference.

The money raised through Christmas fundraising in 2009 means clean spring water for a rural village in Western Kenya! This protected fresh water spring is visited by approx. 1500 people a day, providing water to all their families. Over November and December we sold enough drops of hope to send $500 to KEEF, which covered the costs of a scholarship for one year of highschool including fees and uniform. We sent $1500 to KASFOOC which paid for a protected spring (pictured here) and feed for an ongoing fish farming project, and $2500 to Maji Mazuri children’s centre to help with ongoing costs for the orphans.

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Over the last 25 years Maji Mazuri has successfully accomplished the audacious mission of alleviating poverty by empowering people to bring about change in their own lives. The organization is transforming lives, connecting people, and inviting participation from every corner of the globe.

Wanjiku Kironyo, Founder of Maji Mazuri, believes its about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us change the world, one life at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It's proof of our collective potential to make a global impact.

In January of 2010 with the help and hearts of the people in the Comox Valley and surrounding areas on Vancouver Island, our friends and family, we sent $2500 to Maji Mazuri. This Christmas we have fundraised again, and another cheque will greet them in January 2011.

Wanjiku has been my inspiration from the first day I met her. Under her courageous leadership and against all odds, Maji Mazuri organization has morphed into the epiphany of hope in a desolate place.

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Umoja is the Swahili word for Unity. It represents Oneness and Harmony.

Thank You, Asante Sana

2009-11-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

We would sincerely like to thank Darren Terhune of Graphika Studioz, who put together our collection of photos from Kenya, and made a wonderful slideshow for us to introduce our project. To Yvette Narlock, who so graciously granted us permission to use her beautiful song ‘One Drop’ in our slideshow. To the Comox Valley Record for printing our story. To Dave Talbot of Fiesta, who contacted us as a result of the newspaper article and ultimately got us a table for two weekend community fair trade events. As a result of Dave allowing us this chance to sell our drops we fulfilled our goal all in the very first day! To Valleyview school who sold our drops at their Christmas concert. Thank-you to our friends who have helped us along the way, supported our cause, and volunteered their time and resources.

To my Kenyan family...Asante sana. Nakupenda. Most of all thank-you to the people whose faces you saw in the slideshow. It is these smiles, places, and landscapes that have taken up permanent residence in our hearts, and are the inspiration for this campaign.