Kenyan Welfare Association re-launched in New England
Rev. Ekira Mureithi (facing backwards) leads other Executive members of the Kenyan Pastors' Fellowship Associacion Inc. in New England as they pray for the incoming officials of the re-launched Kenyan Christian Welfare Association.The event took place recently at the Community Christian Church ( CCF) in Lowell, Mass. Some of the new officials are, sitting down rom left to right, Stephen Njuguna, chairman, James Ndungu, vice - chairman, Grace Muchiru, Secretary and Beatrice Kagotho, Treasurer. pic H.Maina/Ajabu
Ajabu Africa News
By our staff writer ( Story updated , 9/12/09)
LOWELL, SEPTEMBER 11_
In a move aimed at providing a common community structure for Kenyans in New England, a group of churches met recently to revitalize a welfare organization that was started a year ago primarily to address the social-economic welfare of Kenyans in the Diaspora from a Christian perspective but without the direct influence of pastors.
Dubbed the Kenyan Christians Welfare Association (KCWA), the organization met recently at the CCF church in Lowell, Mass. and held elections of new office bearers.
About 20 representatives of member churches from Lowell, Worcester, Springfield, Lawrence, Dracut, North Chelmsford and Malden attended.
According to the chairman of the Kenya Pastors' Fellowship in New England, Inc, Bishop David Karaya, all known churches in Massachusetts were invited to send their representatives.
Bishop Karaya said that it has become clear that Kenyans need a credible, functional organization that will represent their social economic needs as immigrants in a far country where togetherness is crucial in times of trouble and joy.
“Even in the early days of the Bible, a time came when all the disciples decided to separate the duties of preaching the gospel and serving other needs of society,” Bishop Karaya said.
Quoting the book of Acts 6:1-7, (Read the verse here) he said that time has now come when our pastors can not handle all the things going on in the growing society and still concentrate on the spiritual matters in a concrete manner.
“We therefore thought it is very important to have other Kenyans from the general community take leadership of the social – economic issues, so that pastors can concentrate on the spiritual welfare of Kenyans,” he added.
The organization, which is planned to be member based, will also welcome Kenyans who are not registered members of the numerous Kenyan community churches in New England and even those who do not attend church at all.
James Ndungu, aka Brown, from Lawrence, Mass. stresses the need for a strong community organization for Kenyans in New England
This will be helpful because there are many Kenyans attending American mega-churches which may not recognize individual Kenyans when problems occur that require community help.
There have also been cases of lone Kenyans who have fallen sick and died in their apartments after isolating themselves from their own community hence nobody to help when inevitable problems strike.
A few months ago, a Kenyan man who did not attend a Kenyan community church was diagnosed with terminal illness with doctors in Boston estimating his remaining lifespan to be 3 months.
In an exclusive interview with Ajabu Africa News , the man's last wish was to meet his wife and family back in Kenya for final prayers togetherbefore he died, but he had not money for the one way ticket to his motherland after having depleted his savings on expenses as he could not work since the grim diagnosis was spotted. (Read story here).
According to the man , his church in Lowell did not seem to understand his plight based on his culture and did little to help him get an air ticket.
It was the Kenyan christians led by members of the PCEA Ushindi Church who came to the man's rescue and contributed enough money to grant the man his final wish. (Read story here).
According to reliable sources, the man has since died as per the doctors' prediction.
Such stories underscore the need to have a serious non partisan organization like the Kenyan Christians Welfare Association to assist in such matters.
Other than helping in times of distress, KCWA also aims at supporting various Kenyans who are coming up with businesses by encouraging members to buy products and services from hard working Kenyan entrepreneurs as long as their services meet or exceed American standards in this competitive market.
Karaya said that apart from helping families of deceased Kenyans both here and back home, grieve and raise funds to bury their loved ones, pastors have also been forced to deal with other domestic issues that come up all the time among their parishioners in addition to leading their individual church services.
The free and fair elections were conducted through a secret ballot system where proposed and seconded candidates had to step out of the room for the votes to be cast.
Rev. Charles Karanja of Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship in America (PEFA) based in Malden was the returning officer assisted by Rev. Ekira Mureithi of Saint John’s Anglican Church from Worcester, Rev. Jeremiah Githere of Grace Community church, North Billerica and Pastor Kenny Nyaga from Arc of Refuge Community church in Worcester.
Mr. Stephen Njuguna from Saint Stephen’s Church in Lowell was elected the new chairman, taking over from Horrace Kamau who has been the chairman for the last one year.
Stephen Njuguna, left, is congratulated by the returning officer, Rev. Charles Karanja of PEFA church in Malden on his election to chairman's post.Pastor Kenny Nyaga of the Arc of Refuge Church in Worcester looks on.
James Ndungu from Tumaini Gospel church Springfield was elected the Vice chairman, while Beatrice Kagotho from Divine Gospel ministries in Worcester was elected the new treasurer. Ms. Grace Muchiru from Arc of Refuge Community church Worcester became the new secretary.
Another newly elected official , who declined to be named, stepped down from the assistant treasurer's post two days after the elections , saying that she could not handle her new duties due to a tight work schedule.
Just like it happened during the days of the Bible, prayers were offered for the elected officials by the executive board of Kenyan Pastors Fellowship Inc in New England.
The pastors laid their hands on the new officials as they commissioned them to serve the people
In his acceptance speech, the new chairman, Njuguna, asked Kenyans everywhere to come together and help one another in times of need. He also said that Kenyans should always come together to celebrate and have fun when good things happen.
“We don’t have to always meet when burying someone. We should meet even to have fun,” said the new chairman.
Njuguna pledged that the new leadership of the Kenya Christians Welfare Association will embark on the hard work ahead without wasting any time.
“Four months ago, we had to raise a lot of money to bury a Kenyan who died and decomposed in his apartment in Cambridge just because he did not belong anywhere”, said Njuguna, who has extensive experience in community organization having worked for many years as a chief in Kenya.
“We don’t want that kind of thing to happen anymore, so we ask all Kenyans wherever they are to register themselves”, he added.
He said that the organization will help all Kenyans regardless of their background.
“Whether you are a Muslim or never attend any church, you are welcome to join and get help if need be”.
The newly elected officials convened a meeting in Worcester on Sunday, September 6th where three more officials were elected to fill open positions.
During this follow up meeting, Peter Okeny from Christ is the Answer Church in Lowell was elected as the Internal Information networking official, Winnie Mwangi from PEFA church in Malden was elected as the assistant secretary and Robert Odanga from the International Faith Outreach Ministry in Springfield was elected as the Public relations officer.
Peter Okeny, left, the new Internal Communications Officer sits together with other Kenyans during the recent elections
Ajabu Africa publisher, Harrison Maina from Eagle Heights church in Revere, was elected as the Media Communications officer.
The new officials welcomed Kenyans from different cities like Worcester, Springfield, Randolph, Brockton, Quincy, Boston, Lowell, Lynn, Lawrence and across other states like New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont and asked them to provide ideas and to join the organization and make it functional.
The next meeting has been scheduled to take place in Springfield on October 4 during which the officials will start drafting a constitution.
“It is important to have a constitution when you are representing the masses,” said Njuguna, the organization’s chairman in a phone interview with Ajabu Africa.
“This is not a few people’s business organization. A well thought out constitution is needed that will be used to set rules and regulations to govern the association effectively and responsibly”.
Judging by the enthusiasm of the Kenyans present and their openness to include people of different backgrounds and talents in charting the future of this welfare association, coupled with their determination to be open to scrutiny, the KCWA provides a good shot at bringing Kenyans in New England together to take care of their brothers’ or sisters’ needs as a community.
To reach the organization with comments, ideas or desire to join, call:
(978)- 726- 5460 / (774) 279-2758
or email the secretary at: Gracemuchiru@yahoo.com
