| Covid in Africa A couple of months ago we got word that Sister Agnes who lives in Western Kenya had Covid and was in the hospital. Fortunately she came through it well and none of the children in the orphanage had it. She is quite well today. We are still waiting to buy a vehicle that can be used to deliver eggs and broilers and once we have secured a vehicle we should be able to get her an incubator and chicks and feed and she will have a sustainable project moving forward .Just after Mama Charity got back to Togo after the burial of her sister that we spoke of in our last Newsletter, she was out of communication with us again. We learned from the orphanage staff that she got Covid and was in the hospital, very ill, touch and go. Fortunately she is in recovery. They discharged her to the orphanage where she is isolated for 14 days and still quite short of breath and unable to talk much because of her labored breathing. We have no update on whether her staff at the orphanage were able to continue the work that needed to be completed on the new school in Ghana so we will have an update in the next newsletter. Mama Dinah’s community in the Maasai Mara of Oloonkerine in south western Kenya has been hit hard by Covid and by the drought and lack of water for families and livestock. No Covid vaccinations have been available for them until last week. Mama Dinah was able to get to the nearest town and start her vaccinations last week and we are very grateful. The Maasai are a close-knit community and they have people dying from Covid without the support of extended family and friends through the death process because of the lockdown and need for isolation. Because of the drought they have walked their cattle 6 days away where there are cutting some tree branches to feed the cattle leaves. At home 7 sheep have died so far in September from lack of water and food. Hand-in-Hand is sponsoring a fundraiser called Global Walk for Water to take place between Oct 9-13, 2021. Here are some details if you are drawn to walk with us. Our vision is to have individuals and groups of walkers around the globe walking to raise funds and raise awareness of the unacceptable challenges people who have very little water face. At this present time, women in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, continue to fetch water in 20-liter containers, from stagnant water dugouts shared by the livestock. This water is carried 2-5 km to be used as their household water |
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| This fundraiser will go towards drilling a borehole and purchase of a solar pump to bring water to the Oloonkerine community. Interested walkers can register through our partner site Bridges of Hope. Once you have registered, we will send you a sample email you can send to family and friends asking them to sponsor your Global Walk for Water. For more information and to register please follow this link: Hand-in Hand Global Walk for Water Registration and Sponsorship • A Bridges of Hope Project (https://bridgesofhope.ca/project/hand-in-hand-global-walk-for-water/) If you are located in the US, click the link for US registration and on the pull-down menu for organizations choose Global Walk for Water. Under comments you can add registration. We hope to bring relief to the Maasai community. In our next issue of the newsletter, we should be able to give an update on Mama Charity’s health as well as progress on her school and Sister Agnes’s poultry farm. In this time of harvest and counting our blessings with Canadian Thanksgiving in October and the US Thanksgiving in November, we are feeling deep gratitude. Please click HERE to see a video of the a new borehole in another community in Kenya. |
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| DREAM WITH US, ENOUGH WATER TO SUPPORT THE WHOLE OF MAMA DINAH’S COMMUNITY IN OLOONKERINE.You can visit our website for updates at www.handinhand.space. You will find copies of our previous newsletters under the Newsletter tab. And you can reach us via email at hope.whisperers@gmail.com |
