Can you imagine living in a 10’ x 10’ shack on an old garbage dump with only your 90-year-old grandmother to help you through life?  There is no water and no electricity.  Two feet in front of the entrance to your shack runs a rivulet of water that includes human waste.  If you are fortunate to eat today, it will probably be rice cooked on a tiny charcoal cooker.  Attending school on a regular basis is a luxury that exists only in your dreams.  You are 14 years old and your sister is 19.  This was the life for Martha and Mary who had lost both parents and quickly became orphans in the huge “Kibera” slum outside Nairobi, Kenya.  The last thing that their mother told Mary, the oldest, was “take care of Martha, go to church, get an education, I love you”.

Today Mary has finished secondary school (high school) and is getting an even higher education and Martha is excelling in high school.  Amazingly, they both have excellent grades even though they have led such a difficult life, experiencing everything from the loss of their parents to having their shack burned down and the loss of the little they owned.  Mary and Martha were the first children our parish was able to help get an education through the “Kibera Orphan Education Project”.  This program provides orphans in the Kibera slum, in Kenya, Africa with an opportunity to get a secondary (high school) education and sometimes beyond that.  You see, education is the only hope for these children; the “poorest of the poor”, as Mother Teresa would say.  It is how they can break out of the cycle of poverty.  They are provided three meals a day (probably for the first time in their lives) and a safe and nurturing environment for their studies.  The children appreciate that someone is interested in helping them get an education as indicated in this note from Susan, one of our students.

This social justice program has an in-country coordinator, Father Dennis Geng, an American who has lived in Kenya for 12 years.  Father Dennis spends months getting to know individual orphans before he recommends them for the program.  Once they begin school he meets with them regularly, reviews their grades and discusses their progress with their principals.  This intensive screening and monitoring has resulted in all of the children excelling in their education and consistently ranking in the top tiers of their class as indicated in these grade reports.  The schools these orphans attend are all boarding schools (the norm in third-world countries).  They are provided three meals a day (probably for the first time in their lives) and a safe and nurturing environment for their studies.  The children are grateful that someone cares about them enough to help get an education as indicated by this note from Susan, one of the children in the program

Here stateside, within Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, the program is managed by Ken and Carol Fabrizio, two parishioners that felt the Holy Spirit calling them to action and inspiring them to personally commit to changing the lives of these very needy children.  Like so many other Blessed Teresa parishioners, Ken and Carol are  trying to follow Blessed Mother Teresa's own dictum to 'Do Small Things With Great Love'.  If you'd like to learn more about the Kibera Orpan Education Project, please contact Ken or Carol.

By pooling the donations of parishioners and generous givers who hear about the program, we can provide an education to these orphan children.  We are able to have a significant, positive, direct impact on their lives!  For the cost of about two lattes per week ($600 per year) one child can go to secondary school for a whole year.  For $2,000 per year some of them can even get a trade school or college education after high school.  Once a child begins school, we ensure they are able to complete their education by working with Father Dennis to appropriately manage the donated funds.  To that extent, many of our donations are regularly scheduled annual, bi-annual or quarterly commitments, which helps us greatly in our planning.  We send out regular updates on the program and the sponsored children and also reminder notices for the scheduled donations.

To become a regularly scheduled or one-time donor for any amount, please fill out the donor card and return it along with your donation in the collection basket at Mass, to the parish office, or to the address below.  Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF) donations are also welcome and appreciated.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish
Kibera Orphan Education Project
P.O. Box 1802
Woodinville, Washington 98072