Please be sure to watch our new video at the end!
Way back in time (2006) Pamela and Deaconess Mary building a mud wall.
Back in the day when I first traveled to Kenya in 2006, cell phones with the capability to make cheap calls home were not an option. The iPhone had yet to launch and WhatsApp wasn’t a thing. In order to email or call home, I went to an internet cafe. The one I frequented was in Kisumu, western Kenya, in the “mall” where the Nakumatt supermarket was located. This internet cafe was a small room with a bank of old computers. There were also three “phone booths”, each fashioned out of thin plywood, giving only the illusion of privacy. Just because you couldn’t be seen, didn’t mean you couldn’t be heard–by EVERYONE. Each conversation bounced around the room and was fodder for all who heard, even if one-sided. Oh, if walls could talk, flimsy as they were, what stories they would tell! Now cell phone towers dot the Kenyan landscape and smartphones are as ubiquitous as afternoon downpours in the rainy season. WhatsApp and Zoom allow for instant connections around the globe.
A denim wall for a dressing room in an outdoor market where I could be both seen and heard!
A classroom with walls made of corrugated steel-common in Kenya.
Staying connected is vital to the work of Always Mercy, especially as we partner with Rehema Open Door, the hospice and palliative care center we are building in Kenya. Conversations flow easily between the U.S. and Kenya–conversations about building plans and construction. Conversations about suffering and compassion, despair and hope. Conversations about mercy. These conversations are for all to hear–eavesdropping is welcome! You are a part of these conversations, simply by reading this post. You enter into these conversations by your prayers, your encouraging words and your donations.
Phase one of Rehema’s building project is well underway. The foundation has been laid and we are ready to build the walls! These will be solid concrete walls, ready to hold stories of those who enter in.
We need to raise $13,000 to get these walls up. Won’t you consider joining us in this endeavor? No amount is too small.
Or mail a check to:
Always Mercy 576 Foothills Plaza Dr. #209. Maryville, TN 37801
or Holy Cross Lutheran Church 4701 Grove St. Rocklin, CA 95677 (earmark for Kenya)
