Julie Hostetler Graber is going to Kenya in July to share her teaching experience with the staff of the Mathare Menno Kids Academy. The Academy is a nursery to eighth grade school located in Mathare, a poverty-stricken area of Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa. Because Julie was born while her parents, Don and Joyce Hostetler of Bluffton, were serving as volunteers in East Africa, she has developed a lasting interest in the children there. This will be her third visit to Africa as an adult.
As an experienced teacher on a visit three years ago, she was appalled by the lack of educational supplies, books, and even food available for the 430 children who attend the little school on the church grounds. Her fifth grade classes sponsored pancake breakfasts and yard sales and contacted community members for donations. Other friends made a quilt and auctioned it to raise funds. Enough money has been raised to build two new classroom buildings and give sports equipment, food and educational supplies.
Now, women of First Mennonite Church are collecting more school supplies, books and money to send with Julie on this trip. Approximately $600 is needed to buy a set of Swahili textbooks. Other funds will be used to buy appropriate reading material locally. A dentist from Salem, Oregon will also go to provide dental care to the staff, the children and their families.
On June 3, the women gathered to knot a comforter to send as a gift to Pastor Caleb Owuonda of the Mathare Mennonite Church and his family. They also sorted the school supplies and books that have been donated. Additional supplies and funds can be donated at the church through June 18. After June 18, funding can be given for this school and others through Mennonite Central Committee's Global Family Program.
