How a cow got from Ilion to Kenya (sort of)

Although the village of Kosodo is thousands of miles away, the connection parishioners of Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Ilion feel with the Kenyan "village of grandmothers" is far closer.

Every year or so, parishioner Edward Ogalo, who grew up in Kosodo, returns with his family to visit relatives.

When he goes, he brings well-wishes -- and financial support -- from Ilion. Parishioners took up a general collection in November; first communicants raised over $300 in a bottle drive in 2006; and the religious education program plans to do even more in '07.

Changing village

That support is greatly appreciated by Mr. Ogalo's sister, Helen Oyoo, who runs a charity in the village.

Kosodo, located on a hilltop northeast of Nairobi, is a sizeable village in a productive area. But when Mrs. Oyoo returned there, she discovered a village that had radically changed due to AIDS.

Many residents had been killed by the disease, and their grandparents -- many of whom did not have income or other support -- took in the orphans to raise as their own.

Need is great

The grandmothers, said Elizabeth Skinner, an Annunciation parishioner, are on their own in raising the children.

"In Kenya, if you are a widow," she explained, "you depend on the largesse of family members -- if family members have any largesse to give."

Mrs. Oyoo provides financial and physical support for the grandmothers, including purchasing cows and chickens for milk and eggs, renovating homes, and hosting feeding days. She also provides uniforms for the children, which are required for attendance the Kosodo school. She also has helped with school supplies and purchasing mattresses.

More to do

Future hopes, said Ms. Skinner, include working with a non-profit organization to dig a well so the grandmothers won't have to walk so far to get clean water; doing more AIDS education in the town and in the school; and developing a micro-loan program so grandmothers can start small businesses to help support their families.

"They are hungry people, poor people. [They need] medicine, food, nutrition," explained Mr. Ogalo. "And what they need most is water: good clean drinking water."

Ms. Skinner, who befriended the Ogalo family through tutoring Mr. Ogalo's son in religious education, got to know and admire Mrs. Oyoo, who, "like myself," she explained, "is a retired schoolteacher."

Ms. Skinner, who now creates and repairs leather goods alongside her husband, began putting out a change jar at biker shows to support the cause and would regularly send hundreds of dollars to Kosodo.

Kids' efforts

The children in the Annunciation religious ed program are thinking of more ways to assist, according to Sarah King, religious ed coordinator.

"This year, we thought we would try to have each class have a project where we raise money to send to Kenya to help this community," she explained. "We're trying to have every class decide what they want to do to raise money."

Such efforts go "a long way to help these people survive," said Mr. Ogalo, an usher at the parish. "They're trying to raise these little kids" to someday have "their dreams fulfilled."

(The story of the "village of grandmothers" has reached far enough that Maryknoll missionaries filmed a 30-minute documentary there to help further the grandmothers' cause.)

(2/1/07) [[In-content Ad]]