Sometimes
when we give to an offering, we don’t know where the money goes. In honor of
Mother’s Day, on May 13, here are two articles about women being helped by your
World Hunger Fund offerings, one in Kenya, and one in Tanzania. We hope you
enjoy these stories.
Promoting
Girls’ Rights and Education in Kenya
 |
Evelyne
in her school
uniform at her secondary school in Kilifi County, Kenya |
Evelyne first connected with
the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC) women’s work through a seminar in
her congregation in Naserian Mission. Here she learned about girls’ rights, the
importance of education, and support networks available to women and girls in
Kenya. Just a few weeks later, Evelyne needed to access those support networks
when her father informed her that he had arranged for her to marry an older man
in their community. Evelyne was only 14 years old. She wanted to continue her
education, and she did not want to be married.
Evelyne
called many people looking for help to escape this situation, but at first
found no one to assist her. Eventually she contacted Alice Mwaringa, the KELC
Women’s Department coordinator. Alice quickly found a way to remove Evelyne
from her home and take her to a safe place. With help from many people within
the KELC women’s network, Evelyne was welcomed into the home of a family near
Mombasa and enrolled in a nearby secondary school.
 |
Evelyne
receiving
a blessing from her father. |
Now
in her last year of school, Evelyne has been selected as Head Girl and her
teachers praise her for her hard work and good scores. Evelyne is hoping to
continue her education by going to university to study accounting.
Evelyne
has also been welcomed back into her family home, where she had been barred
from returning, after refusing her arranged marriage. Over several years, and
with intervention and counseling from KELC leaders and community elders,
Evelyne’s father has accepted her decision to pursue education instead of
marriage. At the end of last year, Evelyne’s father invited her home, where he
gave her a blessing for her future and success in her schooling.
We
thank God for Evelyne’s strength and achievements and we pray for equity and
justice for all girls in Kenya and around the world.
Thanks to Elizabeth
Hendrickson, ELCA missionary in Kenya, for this story and photos. The work of
the KELC Women’s Department is funded mainly by ELCA World Hunger funds.
Jane’s
Story: A Person Living with HIV/AIDS Becomes a Peer Counselor and National
Health Advocate
 |
Jane Mwalyego
displaying some of
her healthy nutritional products
|
Jane Mwalyego, the widowed mother of four, lost her
husband to HIV/AIDS in 2002. Jane was diagnosed with HIV just before her
husband’s death. At that time, due to the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, her
husband’s family disowned her and her children. Bereaved and heartbroken, Jane
and her children had to travel1500 kilometers (almost 1000 miles) from Musoma, her husband’s home village, to
Mbeya where she settled at her brother’s home. There her health quickly
deteriorated and she became bedridden. In 2005, a Palliative Care team from the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) learned of her case and began to
visit her regularly. They nursed her bed sores, managed her pain holistically,
and provided counseling. In 2008 she moved to Arusha, in northern Tanzania,
where she began Antiretroviral Therapy. Sadly, her eldest, a teen-age son, died
of HIV/AIDS around this time. In Arusha, she continued to receive Palliative
Care services, including bereavement counseling and psychosocial support, from
Selian Lutheran Hospice. By 2015, she had recovered her strength and was
invited to attend training for home-based care volunteers so that she could
help other patients in her situation to face life again. Although Jane has only
a primary school education, she became one of the best peer counselors in the
region for patients and families affected with HIV/AIDS.
 |
Jane
Mwalyego addressing members
of the Tanzanian Parliament to advocate better Palliative Care services |
The ELCT Palliative Care
Program also introduced Jane to Village Community Banks, which provide
micro-loans for income generating activities. With a small loan, Jane started
to do small scale farming for vegetables and other nutritional crops. Today she
has a small business selling a variety of healthy nutritional products from
which she earns a good income. She has been able to pay school fees for her
children; one of them recently graduated as a teacher while her youngest is
completing her university degree at Dar es Salaam University. In September 2017
Jane had the privilege of testifying before members of the Tanzanian Parliament
to advocate for the availability of better Palliative Care services throughout
Tanzania.
Thanks to Dr. Paul Mmbando,
head of the ELCT Palliative Care Program, for this story and photo. The ELCT
Health Department’s Palliative Care Project is funded by World Hunger grants.
