Michael Nyangi, the founder and Kenyan Director for Achungo Children’s Center, is making his first trip to the Bay Area in late November (2012). Below are some of the events planned.
You should consider attending and meeting this incredible man who grew up a poor orphan, was sponsored through college and then, forgoing a lucrative career, began immediately to pursue a life focused on others. His lifelong ambition was to work in a Bank. Graduating with a CPA he was well-positioned and says he actually worked in a bank…for 1 week. I think he was just destined for greater things. Living in one of the world’s largest slums (Kibera in Nairobi), he noticed a woman with a small child by the railroad tracks and worried that in her desperation she was considering suicide. He had $20; he approached her and gave it to her, hoping it would help. The next day, on his way to work, he saw her there again, but now she had corn and was roasting it over coals to sell. A few days later he saw another woman similarly destitute, gave her his $20 and before the end of that week, both women were sitting together selling food to passersby. It was thrilling to Michael to think about how little it took to make a difference in their lives (they eventually were able to move out of the slums and send their children to school, and even set up a small restaurant).
Michael was all of 22 and he began soliciting friends to join him by donating what they could — often a dollar or less, and he eventually developed Lomoro, a micro-finance office of 15 staffers that helped more than 100 women of Kibera better themselves. Lomoro eventually attracted a little support from an NGO called 1010project out of Colorado and those contacts led to Michael being a guest speaker at the UN General Assembly (October 2008) and at a conference in Italy hosted by Amnesty International.
In 2005, at 24, Michael formed a local NGO (a Kenyan “Community Based Organization”) that he called “Achungo Community Centre.” A few years before he had begun taking orphans into his own mud hut. He had seen a group of 3- or 4-year-olds on the streets of the village, scrounging in the garbage for food and decided that he needed to find care for them. He eventually found some widows to do the same and with his own meager funds rented a shed to use as a school. That eventually turned into Achungo, now with over 190 children and a staff of 13. .
Saturday, December 1st (Mountain View) — Holiday Tea.
- 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. This will be a full service tea with presentations from Michael Nyangi as well as U.S. Director, Monte Fisher.
- 100% of the proceeds go to Achungo operations in Kenya.
- Reservations required!
OPEN EVENTS
Sunday, December 2 –Vantage African Partners Forum
- 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Michael will share briefly at these services at Open Door Church, Mountain View (1667 Miramonte)
- 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Michael and leaders of Ethiopia’s Hope Enterprise will take part on a panel of the Vantage African Partners Forum, hosted by Mark Swarner, Mission Pastor at MPPC.
- Light lunch.
- Held at Fellowship Hall at 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park.
- 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. Vantage African Partners Forum (details above) at Open Door Church, Mountain View.
- Fellowship Hall at 1667 Miramonte Ave. (at Cuesta), Mountain View.
Sunday, December 9 — Saratoga Federated Church (20390 Park Place, Saratoga)
- 11:45 to 1pm “Go and Tell” presentation by Michael and Monte. Opportunity to meet and greet.
For more information on any of these events, please contact Kathy Fisher: kathyfisher1106@sbcglobal.net