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Lucy Odipo could be
retired and living comfortably after twenty years of working as a
secretary at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Before her
retirement in 2001, she had saved a good deal of money to invest.
However, Lucy decided, instead, to use her only savings to help the
less fortunate in the Nairobi slums. In the same year as her
retirement, she mobilized a group of women to start cleaning up the
slums. They also washed clothing for the sick and provided food and
clothing for the poor.
During the
beginning of her work in the Madoya Slum outside of Nairobi, Lucy
noticed the number of little children who were not going to school.
They were everywhere-hungry and busy doing nothing. The sight
of these children prompted Lucy to rethink her goals and she
organized the Little Bees Self-Help Group. Her new objectives
were to provide education to the orphaned children, as well as
clothing, feeding, and providing medical care.
Rather than a
living a life of relative ease and security, Lucy has sacrificed all
that she has to mother countless orphans while struggling to provide
the barest of necessities for these children.
Mama Lucy, as she
affectionately has become known, has expanded her vision to include
school feeding programs and to provide clean water and toilets in the
worst of slum conditions. She is a champion of environmental
hygiene. It was at her instigation that a campaign against flying
toilets (discarded plastic bags full of waste used and carelessly
tossed everywhere) was successfully waged to clean up the Little Bees
area of the slum.
Her care and
support reaches out to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. She
turns no one away, but gathers in all children who come seeking help.
Mama Lucy has filled her home in the slums to overflowing with young
girls who have been molested and/or treated cruelly.
The Little Bees
School and Mama Lucy's humble home are reached by walking through
narrow alleys while dodging sharp overhanging sheet metal roofs, and
carefully stepping over streams of filthy water. Mama Lucy has taken
her portion of the slum and has done wonders, creating a small haven
of safety for the children. This haven was nearly destroyed in the
recent political riots when many of the areas around the Little Bees
School were burned. Several of the Little Bees children were killed
and Mama Lucy was taken from her home and beaten during this time.
Though circumstances such as these would weaken the resolve and
dedication of most people, Mama Lucy was back at work rebuilding and
offering aid just as soon as she was released from the hospital and a
measure of peace was restored.
Having had the
opportunity to work with Mama Lucy in Kenya by giving instructions in
gardening and classroom curriculum, Shanna Francis of Eden and Karen
Bastow of Liberty are spearheading a movement to provide ongoing
support for Mama Lucy and her Little Bees. Working through
Reach the Children, a non-profit foundation, all donations are
tax deductible. Mama Lucy isn't looking for handouts, rather, she
believes in vocational training and income-generating activities as
she and the women of Little Bees work toward self-sufficiency. To
this end, one project they have undertaken is to make African dolls
and Noah's Arks to sell. We won't be selling these, but rather
will give them away in appreciation for donations of $100 or more.
Even the smallest donations, added together, will make a huge
difference in the lives of these deserving Kenyan children.
William Wilberforce
said, "Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other
way . . . but you can never say again that you did not know."
If you are
interested in making a contribution toward helping Mama Lucy and the
Little Bees School, please contact Shanna Francis at 745-2688 or
Karen Bastow at 745-4127.
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