OPEN DAY WITH KOKO BAND ON 08/21/2009

As we closed the summer and the team visits for this year, we decided to hold an open day as a way of checking in with Maai Mahiu community. The turn out was great and lots of enthusiasm from all the people who attended. The day was opened with a word of prayer by Ruth Mbatha. Ruth is one of our Malaika kids and she did a marvelous job. She demonstrated lots of ability, not only in the content of her prayer but also in her joy and confidence while seated before the huge group of people that came to witness the day. Many were in tears as she demonstrated that disability is not inability and that people with special needs have a lot to offer, even to a community that has not had any experience with the disabled people.

Koko band were the entertainers of the day and they led everyone in a great dance, both the young and the old. Our malaika kids and caretakers were not left behind as they joined in and danced to be best of their ability. Rocky and Mwaniki also came in to dance and represent the men who were a bit shy, as shy as they thought they were, they did it so well such that Zane could not resist the dance and though he has two left feet, but yet every one was cheering him to keep up. Only a video will do justice to this day for all of you to witness what was going on. It will be posted soon. Thanks to Koko band for their willingness to give back to the community with their wonderful talents.

Our open day was also graced with the presence of great business men and women, the area councilor and other community leaders and workers from the Green belt movement, Christian community service- Maai Mahiu, PCYI and care of creation. The disabled community from Naivasha Town was represented by Mr. Kimemia who had great things to share about our program and the great influence that CTC has been within the most marginalized in the community. All these community leaders lauded CTC for their great work within the community and being a good role model for great relationships that have been geared to making a difference in people’s lives. One thing was clear at the end of the day, that we need one another to be able to bring a new life to our community.

All who came echoed with CTC that something needs to be done with our environment. There was more dust blowing on that day than all the days we have seen in Maai Mahiu. It became evident that we need to plant trees right away to improve the situation.

The education system is so stressful for our children due to lack of facilities in our schools. Many were excited about the Rafiki link and the efforts they have shown to enlighten the students from Kenya and from the west with the richness of our cultures. Malaika mums are our clear evidence that women need empowerment not only in their lives but also in their economic life. We hope that their bag making will take off and make a difference in their lives and those of many others. Health issues and the need for community within the people needed no advocate as everyone nodded with a big ‘yes’. We need better health care and we need one another in our day to day lives to make life better.

Ubuntu was emphasized by Zane and the fact that we can only reach our potential if the others have reached theirs. Ubuntu days were born and they will be coming every last Saturday of the month. Everyone will be invited and mobilized to do some kind of community work in that day that will make Maai Mahiu a better place to live in. Tree planting and trash collecting will be the main themes but we will also incorporate games and fun time for all who come. We can’t wait for our first one this September.

Thanks to all of you who have been following what CTC is doing in Maai Mahiu. There is still a lot to do together and we need you as we continue to grow. Our staff will start to highlight weekly on our day to day events and happenings in this blog. The environment will be covered by Rocky on the first week; Liz will cover Malaika mums while Mwaniki will focus on Rafiki link consecutively. I will close the month with a general overview of our programs or partnerships and other happenings. Keep checking on your areas of interest as we seek to grow together and don’t hesitate to let us know what you think and how best you can become part of this great cause. I hope to post pictures and videos soon to give a better feel of what is happening.

Till then, blessings to you all.

Jeremiah Kuria

Kenya Director

Comfort the Children International

Summer Nears End

Well here we are in August and the last team has safely arrived home. This year we had SEVEN teams that traveled to Kenya as volunteers for CTC International.
The teams this summer were Rafiki Link Canada,DWC-Canada, Kansas College Team, K2K (Kansas Agriculture team), Medical Team,Therapy and Healing, and our final team Kansas Free State High School.
What an amazing summer, so much good work was done and we have to thank all of our volunteers for helping to spread the word about what we are doing in Kenya as well as their amazing volunteer work in Kenya.

CTC Founder, Zane Wilemon is still in Kenya working with our friend, documentary film maker, Aaron Bratcher. Aaron has been in Kenya since July filming everything that CTC has done. We are really excited about the idea of a new updated documentary using footage with our programs and our volunteers. this is something that until this summer we haven't been able to truly capture.

What's next? Well we have a lot of new ideas and a lot of new volunteers that are very excited to get things moving stateside more on this in our upcoming blogs.

Thanks to everyone that made this summer possible. We will soon begin to lock down dates for next years teams.

CTC announces our volunteers of the month -August 09

CTC has decided to release a VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH announcement going forward !! We would like to keep everyone up to date with the work that some of our amazing volunteers have done!

This is our first month and so we feel like we should do a little bit of backtracking and bring everyone up to date with all of the volunteer work that has happened in the last couple of months. That means we will have more than one volunteer of the month this time around. We want to do some special acknowledgments for those that have put some hard work and energy towards helping the people of Kenya.

Volunteer Allison Edwards:

Allison traveled with CTC to Kenya in the summer of 2008. She went on our Camp team and stayed longer to join up with the medical team. Allison is a pre-med student from Kansas that has dedicated many hours to spread the word on CTC after returning home from her trip. Allison hosted a local fundraiser in Kansas just a few months back where funds would go towards helping a couple team members get to Kenya but also to help out with CTC programs. The event was a success and she did an amazing job. We would also like to congratulate her on being accepted into medical school, hopefully she will soon be a doctor treating patients in Maai Mahiu.

Volunteer Cindy McAlister:

Cindy traveled to Kenya last year with CTC on our Therapy and Healing team where she worked with women of the community. She is the mother of CTC's founder Zane Wilemon and it was amazing to have her there to see with her own eyes the amazing work that her son has accomplished there. Cindy works for American Airlines magazine and was able to get a press release about CTC in their magazine. It was amazing, people flying with American Airlines were able to read on the plane about CTC and what is happening in Kenya. Cindy also returned home and started her own fund raising efforts for CTC by making pendants and jewlery to sell to friends and coworkers with all proceeds going to CTC programming.

Volunteer Liz Green:

Liz joined CTC in Kenya last summer on our Camp team and worked with children in the schools of Maai Mahiu. Since her return Liz has hosted her own fundraiser for CTC in San Francisco. Liz hosted a guest bartender night at a local dive and collected proceeds as well as hosting a raffle where all the funds raised went to CTC programming. Liz plans to join us next year in Kenya and we can't wait to see her there.



We would like to thank all of the volunteers that have saved up or hosted fundraisers to get to Kenya! It's quite an adventure and a lot of hard work to get there and it doesn't go unnoticed. Thanks to all of you that have put time an energy into helping those of Kenya.


What an amazing group of volunteer we have recruited over the years!!! We can't thank you enough for your continued support and love for the people of Kenya.

Allison Edwards (right)

Liz Green

Cindy McAlister