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Beyond The Community
Trip to Kenya Eco Village, May, 2010
The Eco-Village Project is a collaborative effort with the Children and
Youth Empowerment Centre (CYEC) in Nyeri, Kenya and a community of
individuals in Lamuria, Kenya. The CYEC is located approximately 175
kilometers north of Nairobi in the outskirts of Nyeri town, the
administrative headquarters of both Nyeri East District and Kenya’s
Central Province. Lamuria is located in a semi-arid zone in the Rift
Valley, located about 40 minutes north of Nyeri.The CYEC is an initiative of the national program for street dwelling persons and is intended to play a central role in the innovation of holistic and sustainable solutions for the population of street dwelling young people in Kenya. The final goal of the project is to integrate the children of the CYEC into the Eco-Village when they are at the age appropriate to leave the center. The town of Lamuria and the CYEC will be joined together when the Eco-Village begins to be built in the community of Lamuria.
This little girl, Dianna, is 4 and she's wearing some of the sandals sent
by BUMC. The older children will earn the right to 'buy' flip flops by
doing their chores, doing well at school, etc, but the little ones are
given them.
Sue Burriss is helping at the clinic and Tom Heil has been working primarily on
setting up a new lab for the clinic, and in addition to seeing patients,
Sue is helping create a health database. They are both very appreciated
and have contributed a lot to the program here. Tom is a favorite
among the kids and staff (they've grown accustomed to his sense of
humor).
BUMC member
Dr.
Janelle Larson, Associate Professor of Agricultural
Economics and head of the Division of Engineering, Business,
and Computing at Penn State. Through Janelle's efforts,
Penn State became involved in helping to support the CYEC
through a variety of initiatives, including designing
and building an
eco-village
with the goal of providing a
launch pad for youth as they leave the centre.Mission to Mexico, January, 2010
Eight members of Berwyn United Methodist Church were among
volunteers (above) from the United States who were in Cozumel,
Mexico, from Jan. 16 to Jan. 30. They helped to build an all-purpose
structure for a Presbyterian church and to sew quilts, curtains for
the local hospital, and children’s clothes. Discover Service Projects is an ecumenical group, started in the ’80s, that chooses a yearly project
and sends teams in for several weeks to complete it. They have projects both in the United States
and in Central America. The project we worked on was constructing an all-purpose building for a three year-
old Presbyterian church in Cozumel. The building will be used for worship, recreation and Sunday
School, and as a hurricane shelter. Penn State Eco Village Project
In the spring of 2009, thirty-six
Penn State students traveled to
Kenya to work with the
Children and Youth Empowerment Centre (CYEC),
which provides
educational and social services for former street children in Kenya.
Paul Maina, founder and director of the CYEC
in Nyeri, Kenya, turned to BUMC member
Dr. Janelle Larson, Associate Professor of Agricultural
Economics and head of the Division of Engineering, Business,
and Computing at Penn State. Through Janelle's efforts,
Penn State became involved in helping to support the CYEC
through a variety of initiatives, including designing
and building an
eco-village with the goal of providing a
launch pad for youth as they leave the centre. Bread for the World Covenant
Berwyn UMC is a Covenant Church with Bread of the World.
Churches across the country have strengthened their hunger ministry by
becoming covenant churches. These churches make a commitment to
integrate hunger concerns into the life of their congregations.
Bread for the World provides opportunities to learn more about hunger,
to pray for hungry people, and to take action to end hunger through advocacy.
Penny Jar
As the children come forward to hear the Children’s Message during the 10:30 a.m.
worship service, they gather pennies from congregants in the pews and place the coins
in the Penny Jar on the altar steps. Part of the Penny Jar collection will help support Tamara Phiri, a young girl
in Africa, through
Children International. She is six and lives with her parents.
Our support will enable her to go to school which her parents can not afford,
and provide her with health care.
The balance of the collections will go to
Cookson
Hills Mission to provide support for their Christmas Shop
which allows persons to buy new gifts at a price they can afford.
In the past, donations have also gone to The Methodist Church's Hope for the Children Fund which aided children
in Africa and the United States, The Chester County Bridge of Hope (a woman and child shelter in West Chester
and Lancaster County), and other projects which have an emphasis on children.
Soup Labels for Methodist Mission at Cookson Hills
Berwyn UMC continues to support the work of the Methodist Mission at Cookson Hills,
located in the poorest county of Oklahoma. We collect Campbell soup labels for
the mission in an envelope posted on the Missions Bulletin board.
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