K A R I M U

ST. MICHAEL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Raleigh, will be hosting an art show of Jessie’s work March 18-25. This is to benefit  FOOTSTEPS IN FAITH, KARIMU as well as St. Michael’s outreach program. Tally, (The Rev.) will preach on Sunday the 18th and on Sunday the 25th we will have a presentation on Footsteps in Faith and Karimu.

St. Michael’s is a stunning church in a beautiful neighborhood. We had a lovely afternoon there yesterday, (hosted by the Rev. John Gibson) meeting clergy and staff as well as looking at the room where the art will be. If  you have friends in Raleigh, we hope you will direct them to St. Michael’s! Thanks, Jessie and Tally

“Hello Everyone!” (Alistair Cooke used to open his “Letters from America” radio program that way, I was a faithful listener when I lived in England, and loved that opening. So, again, “Hello Everyone”.

We are beginning the campaign for FOOTSTEPS IN FAITH, our goal is to raise one million dollars this year.

Year after year, Msalato Theological college has to find money to run the school. Salaries for teachers, food for students, scholarships for students (most cannot afford their tuition) You have heped with your donations, Wyoming has basically kept the school afloat for three years. A committee has been formed in conjunction with Virginia Theological Seminary, the Diocese of Atlanta, New York, as well as many other people and agencies who have been involved in helping Msalato over the years. Your generosity has a profound impact: you are creating opportunity and instilling confidence in the students you support, the women you are empowering. Your influence will have an enduring effect not only of the lives of deserving students, but the lives of the people in the villages where these where they will be called to help.

By establishing en endowment fund, the school would be able to move from chronic dependence on outside donations, to a fund which would be based, overseen and managed by The Long Term Investment Committee of the Diocese of Atlanta. They have agreed to manage a separate FOOTSTEPS in FAITH Fund. Our ultimate goal will be three million dollars, but for this year we are working towards the one million.

Do any of you know of foundations, dioceses, individuals, that Tally and I would be able to contact. We are going over lists, but are aware that sending letters “cold” rarely get read. However, if you know of a person that you could contact saying they will be receiving our letter and to keep an eye out for it, this would be a great help.

Thank you everyone! Jessie

This has been such a busy season, Thanksgiving, trip to Virginia to get info for the Endowment for Msalato, Art Show, Christmas, Wyoming then New York City! I hope now to have some time to THINK. Sandy sent this photo of happy memories from this past Autumn in Tanzania which now seems so long ago.

Tally and I will go to the Diocesian Convention this weekend and hope to interest more people in KARIMU, and the Endowment. We would love to have more churches involved, not only in their outreach, but even volunteers who would like to go and do some work there.

Times are still hard for most poeple, but inspite of that, our donations keep trickeling in and we thank you for that. With people who have not had to struggle in the past, this new experience of worry has also heightened awareness of what those who are barely surviving must be facing every day, year after year. It certainly has for Tally and me, and we grateful for your empathy.

We hope to expand the piglet project to a brand new village which will make four villages now. East Africa is finally getting much needed rain so draught conditions are abating at last. We will talk with some women about the possibility of gardens (where there is water available). We can help with seeds, fertilizer and perhaps some implements. Small solar lighting is also on our list ($22.00) a light. This would be a good project for children!!

Thanks – Jessie

Word came yesterday from Father Moses Matonya that the women in Ikowa Village are busy with agricultural works on their farms and that the piglets are growing “big and healthy.”  Further, he said that the piglet project (what we call the Wilbur Project) has brought new hope and power to the women in Ikowa.  The women are returning to Church and they are accepting responsibilities and duties  that women have always done in our churches in America.  Believe me its the women who will save Africa.  Those of you who have bought piglets  and especially St. Mary Magdalene’s Church that held a bake sale in late summer and raised nearly $1,000 to buy piglets, please know what an impact you are having on the women and children of Tanzania.  Actually, even the men are happy.  Moses’ words went straight to our hearts:  “Tally and Jessie, the depth of your love to us is immeasurable and is beyond comparsion.  It is a gift that is graciously flowing from God and we are blessed by it.”  We truly do believe that it is from God and we remain humble and thankful for the privilege given to us and for your abiding love and help as well.   Rain has come!   Moses will visit Ikowa in late January and will take pictures of the newest little oinkers!

Jessie and I will have a KARIMU booth at our diocesan convention ~ should you be there as a delegate, guest or clergy, please stop by and visit us ~ see the work that is being done and learn how you can help.  Is it too late to say Happy New Year?

Tom, and the people from St. Andrews all say hello to our friends in Tanzania. I just returned and am “rat-legged” so will write about the trip later. But, it was a grand time seeing old friends again, stay tuned… Jessie

Ah, ha.  It IS still Christmas.  Look at our Christmas cactus about to  bloom!  The one in the window is about to bloom as well.  Those are African candle sticks given to me as we prepared to leave in October.  They are hand carved with elephants in the middle.  The picture, for the record, is Tally Pendo, Jessie’s famous Jack Russell in my lap ~ you might say we see eye to eye or is it nose to nose?

Why do you suppose some are eager for the season of joy and light to end?  Everyday should be Christmas ~ people seem friendlier, more willing to speak as you pass on the street and more willing to share and give to the poor.  Jessie keeps saying she is going to put me out on the street with a tin cup to collect coins for those in Africa who are poor beyond belief.    I threw out the holly and the ivy today but only because it was so dry, but the tree stands with all of it’s memories ~ ornaments collected for 58 years ~ each with a story to tell.

I read yesterday that the Africans celebrate the New Year with special food if it is available, primarily goat or a chicken.  And we eat beans or black-eyed peas for good luck.  Our Tanzanian friends go to church and dance and sing on New Years’ Eve.  We seem to no longer have New Year’s Eve Watch Services in our churches.  That’s a loss.

Moses wrote that the women in Ikowa Village have bought the pigs for another group of women, thanks to the good people of St. Mary Magdalene’s Episcopal Church in Seven Lakes.  All piglets are doing well.  It started with a meager amount of money and has blossomed into a business for the women who will use the money to see that their children go to school.   Primary education is free, but there is the cost for transportation, uniforms and books and supplies.  Many simply cannot afford those things. 

I have a story about the Wise Men which I will save until Epiphany ~ January 6th.  For a few more days we can enjoy the season and then we can hunker down for those months when we vow to keep our resolutions and to read all the books that are still stacked on our nightstand.

My resolution is to look for the holy in everything.  HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR READERS.