Back from Kenya with news
Hi Kupenda supporters,
As those of you who follow facebook may know, I just returned from Kenya last week with Lauren Blair, an amazing writer, Kupenda supporter and friend. She successfully collected the last amount of needed information to start writing the book on the formation of Kupenda. She said that the stories we uncovered came together even more perfectly than she could have imagined. Since we had regular internet access (not something we’ve had in the past), we kept a photo journal of our activities in Kenya on Kupenda’s facebook page that you can view here.
Revisiting how this whole organization came about really does affirm that this truly is what God has called me to do even though our financial future is always a big question mark. This book process has also reminded me that He didn’t call me to this work alone. There are so many other people who God has called upon in so many different and important ways to be a part of this work. Only God could orchestrate the web of people involved in this.
I also had quite a number of administrative issues to deal with in Kenya. Kupenda continues to grow in spite of my inadequacies to do this and I’m always amazed that we’ve made it this far. One issue is that our Kenya director is overworked to a point where we decided we have to take a step of faith and hire an assistant Kenya director by April. Every day new children with disabilities our brought to the office for assistance meaning we have to be sure there is always a knowledgeable person in the office to direct them to the right place. We have a lot of work that requires being away from the office and it’s also a good idea to let our director have a vacation once in a while.
We are also in the midst of trying to determine the way forward for the organization in the U.S. regarding sustainable income to support a director position. It has been a need for quite some time but I’ve always had difficulty committing Kupenda to a U.S. income. We have come to a point where we realize it is necessary to the ongoing operations of the organization in addition to taking us forward but it is a big financial commitment. Please pray for our U.S. board of directors as we try to determine where funds should be sought for a U.S. Director.
There are a lot of kids out there that need our help. We support approximately 500 children in the Malindi district of Kenya, while at least 500 more have been discovered but have not yet been assisted in addition to at least another estimated 500-1000 children in the district who have not even been discovered.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for being a part of Kupenda. I’m grateful for each and every one of you…even those I’ve not met yet.
In the love of The One who does miracles beyond our imagination,
Cindy
Cynthia R. Bauer
Founder/President
Kupenda for the Children
410-456-2311