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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

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

Each day’s mail brings more envelopes with requests and I feel so guilty when I don’t even open some of them. At our meetings at VTS we had confirmed what we all aready know, that Americans are the best at giving to charities. This got us to thinking about charity in general. What is it? It really can be a way of involvement, and when that is the case, we feel better about it. Involvement, self-sustaining projects. Webster’s New World College Dictionary distinguishes between charity and philanthropy. “Charity is a love of one’s fellow human beings”. “Philanthropy is a desire to hep mankind especially as shown by gifts to charitable or humanitarian institutes”. I like knowing the distinctions between the behaviours. Your “involvement” with KARIMU and therefore the lives of the people in Tanzania has helped so much to ease the burdens by teaching new empowerment behaviours to women as well as children. The women who can now speak English and are furthering their education, the children who are going to school – the women who have learned how to handle money, raise animals, sell them, work in teams, teach others what they know. These are wonderful things! They may be small, but they are life-transforming for people who live in a land that lacks the infrastructure, laws and programs to give them the proverbial “leg-up”.

Now we will embark upon a new venture with “Footsteps in Faith” to help Msalato be self-sustaining through an endowment fund. We feel so strongly about this project, that Msalato offers the best in training for their students in becoming pastors as it not only teaches theology in the manner that seminaries here teach, but incorporates the African cultural background, spiritism, and history to best integrate their history with Christian theology.

Oh, and thank you all for coming to the art show! We were able to give $1,100 to The Empty Stocking Fund from our proceeds! Have a happy Christmas! Jessie