Kangundo Dedication Day

Our first full day was spent in Kangundo for the dedication celebration of the new mortuary that Kizimani is helping to build.  The main structure is complete...enough to have a community celebration!  Why celebrate a mortuary? It is service that has been sorely lacking for this impoverished community, which has forced them to incur exorbitant costs of using facilities a long ways away.  The mortuary will actually complement our medical clinic, providing revenue to support medical salaries and spawn many micro enterprises and jobs to support our Kizimani families.

The celebration started with the whole community dancing and singing to welcome our team and begin the dedication. Being greeted so warmly by the mamas always overwhelms us and brings us to tears.

Mama Monica who has spearheaded our efforts in Kenya, blesses the community and the Kizimani team during the celebration. 

The mortuary on the hill with the community looking on during the dedication.

One of the micro enterprises that has developed is a catering business.  The catering mamas fed us a huge lunch after the dedication and have already begun catering for funerals around the area.  They were so proud of their uniforms and the opportunities they have to provide for their families now. 

After the dedication and lunch, our team visited two of our mamas who are unable to travel to our food distribution event.  Mama Naomi was so grateful to receive her food distribution (she had not eaten the night before.)  

Mama Naomi was so encouraged by our visit and thrilled to see Claudia whom had connected with her several years ago.  We also learned of several other needs Mama Naomi has that Kizimani could address in the future.  Having our Kenya community workers Paul and Colette in Kangundo to monitor family needs and make ongoing assessments has been invaluable to addressing needs sooner than later.

After visiting the mamas, our team briefly visited our medical clinic to check in with our clinical officer Anita and show the clinic to new team members.  It was an incredibly full and emotional day for our team.  And of course we left Kangundo much later than we should have and experienced the dreaded Nairobi Friday evening rush hour traffic jams!